STUDIES 


ENGLISH  MYSTERY  PLAYS 


Thesis  presented  to  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of 
Yale  University 


CHARLES  DAVIDS  OX 

A  CANDIDATE  FOB  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY. 


Printed  b)T  authority  of  Yale  University 


OP 

'UHIVERSIT 


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CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Bibliography 3 

[.     The  Dramatic  Elemenl  in  the  Liturgy, 6 

II.  The  Doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  as  a  Dramatic  Motive,   ...  13 

III.  The  Drama  of  Holy  Week  in  the  Catholic  Liturgy  of  Modern  Times,    .  15 

TV.     The  Drama  of  Holy  Week  in  the  York  Liturgy, 18 

V.  The  Drama  of  Holy  Week  in  Early  Continental  Liturgies,    ...  20 

VI.     The  Rise  of  the  Resurrect  ion  Play 28 

VII.     The  Developed  Resurrection  Play, 32 

VIII.     The  Genesis  of  Christmas,  .        .        , 41 

IX.     The  Growth  of  the  Christmas  Cycle, 46 

.X.     The  Stage  and  (lie  Play  in  Prance, 67 

XI.     The  Stage  and  the  Play  in  Italy, 69 

XII.     The  Stage  and  the  Play  in  Germany 72 

XIII.  The  Out  door  Stage, 75 

XIV.  Evidence  for  Early  Italian  and  Spanish  Plays 77 

XV.     The  Attitude  of  the  Clergy  toward  the  Play, 79 

XVI.     The  Puy, 82 

XVII.     Pageantry  in  Mediaeval   England, 83 

XVIII.  The  Development  of  the  Northern  Septenar  Stanza,     ....  102 

XIX.     Certain  Stanzas  of  the  Mystery  Plays, 119 

""--^  XX.     A.  Survey  of  the  Cycles  of  Mystery  Plays, 128  « 

XXI.                        Cycle  of  the  Tork  Mystery  Plays i:;7 

XXII.     The  Parent  Cycle  in  the  Woodkirk  Plays 147 

XXIII       Dhe  W Ikirk  Play,  '  Conspiracio  et  Captio,'                                        .  153 

XXIV.     The  Play  of  the  Annunciation 157 

XXV.     Chrisi  with  the  Doctors  in  the  Temple 104 

XXVI.    Correspondences  outside  of  the  Parent  Cycle 168 

XXVII.     Conclusion, 171 


:tjhivbrsitt] 

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4  Bibliography. 

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Lambarde,  Wm.,  Dictionarium  Anglire  Topographicum  et  Historicum. 
Liidtke,  G.,  Erl  of  Tolous  and  the  Empress  of  Almayn. 
Ludus  Coventriae.     The  Shakspeare  Society. 
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Literature. 
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jours. 
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( lambridge. 
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and  English,  The,   Baltimore,  1829. 
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Architecture. 
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Tetit  de  .Julleville,  L.,  Les  Mvsteres. 


Bibliography.  5 

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Ritson,  J. ,  Ancient  English  Songs. 
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Robson,  John.  Three  Metrical  Romances.     Camden  Society. 
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elung  dargestellt. 
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performed  at  Coventry. 
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-  Stow,  John,  Survey  of  London,  ed.  by  W.  J.  Thorns. 

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Ten  Brink,  Bernard,  Geschichte  der  Englischen  Literatur. 

Ticknor,  George,  History  of  Spanish  Literature. 
,    Towneley  Mysteries.     Surtees  Society. 

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Zeitsehrift  fur  deutsches  Alterthum,  see  Haupt. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


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THE  DRAMATIC  ELEMENT  IN  THE  LITURGY. 

The  tragic  drama  demands  a  noble  soul  seeking  expression  amid 
adverse  conditions,  or  held  back  from  its  goal  through  collision  with 
opposing  circumstance.  When  the  ideal  dies  out  from  society  the 
drama  dies,  or  iives  only  as  an  echo  of  the  masters  so  long  as  the 
remembrance  of  former  ambitions  dwells  in  the  minds  of  men.  For 
this  reason  the  Roman  drama  died.  At  best  it  was  but  an  echo  of 
the  Greek,  since  ideality  was  not  a  Roman  trait.  At  worst,  when  the 
integrity  of  the  Roman  had  yielded  to  a  disbelief  in  all  high  aims,  it 
became  abhorrent  to  all  right-thinking  men.  The  vulgar  called  for 
realistic  brutality  in  the  amphitheatre  and  for  beastly  lust  upon  the 
stage,  and  the  nobles,  with  a  cynicism  born  of  negations,  hastened 
to  do  their  bidding.  The  genius  of  the  drama  forsook  the  stage  for 
the  byeways  and  hedges,  where,  as  mime  and  farce,  it  could  still 
appeal  to  nature  in  the  primitive  man. 

The  Western  world  was  again  without  a  drama.  It  had  broken 
the  traditions  that  bound  it  to  the  old,  and  must  seek  in  some  new 
channel  for  thoughts  worthy  of  dramatic  expression.  The  early 
Greeks  found  such  in  the  worship  of  Dionysus  ;  the  inheritors  of 
their  worn-out  civilization  felt  in  the  profoundest  sense  a  dynamic 
idea  in  the  Christian  faith. 

We  have,  then,  to  seek  the  sources  of  the  new  drama  in  the  Chris- 
tian ideals. 

The  climax  of  a  tragedy  in  life  was  recognized  in  the  marvelous 
self-sacrifice  of  Christ.  Around  the  Eucharist,  the  memorial  of 
thanksgiving  for  that  death  and  resurrection,  grew  up  the  Christian 
worship.  As  a  fit  approach  to  that  solemn  feast,  various  acts  of 
preparation  were  introduced,  until,  as  a  result,  an  established  mode 
of  procedure,  a  formal  liturgy,  expressed  the  devotion  of  the  disciple 
not  less  by  action  than  by  word. 

At  first  the  familiar  worship  of  the  synagogue  suggested  appror 
priate  additions;  and  prayers'  in  common,  consisting  of  praise, 
reading,  and  supplication,2  formed  a  fit  introduction  to  the  Eucha- 

i  Acts:.',  4'.'.  2  BurbidRO,  p.  3. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  1 

rist.  That  this  did  not,  however,  become  a  fixed  form  within  the 
fh'st  century  is  evident,  since  The  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apos- 
tles, after  the  short  outline  of  a  service,  adds  "But  permit  the  proph- 
ets to  give  thanks  in  what  terms  they  will,"1  and  Clemens  Romanus 
(97  A.  D.)  exhorts  the  Corinthian  Church  to  preserve  due  order  and 
unity,  and  makes  mention  of  the  Jewish  system  of  priests  and  sacri- 
fices as  furnishing  patterns  for  Christians  to  follow.2  Such  instruc- 
tions reveal  the  pervading  influence  of  Jewish  rites  and  the  fluidity 
of  prevailing  customs. 

The  Church,  however,  was  passing  into  the  hands  of  the  Greeks, 
whose  logical  and  artistic  bent  of  mind  sought  immediate  expression 
in  their  adopted  worship.  There  are  many  evidences  to  show  that 
the  Greeks  from  the  first  sought  to  adorn  and  extend  the  ritual  from 
the  stores  of  their  own  civilization.  Dr.  Schaff3  declares  that  "the 
Hellenists  were  much  more  liberal  than  the  Palestinian  Jews.  This 
is  evident  in  the  whole  Church  at  Antioch."  To  the  Greeks,  then, 
must  we  look  for  the  liberalizing  of  the  provincial  notions  of  the  Jew. 

From  such  sources,  combining  Jewish  and  Grecian  elements,  the 
Christian  liturgy  slowly  grew  up,  until  in  103  A.  D.  Pliny  could 
report4  to  the  Emperor  Trajan,  on  the  testimony  of  renegade 
Christians, 

That  they  had  been  accustomed  on  a  stated  day  to  assemble  before  light,  and 
sin-'  amongst  themselves  in  turn  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  God,  and  to  bind  them- 
selves by  an  oath  not  to  commit  any  crime,  but  that  they  would  not  commit  theft 
or  robbery  or  adultery,  nor  break  their  word,  nor  be  false  in  that  which  was  en- 
trusted to  them  ;  and  that  after  this  it  was  their  custom  to  separate,  and  to 
meet  again  to  take  a  meal,  but  that  it  was  in  common  and  harmless. 

This  report  would  seem  to  reveal  to  us  a  divided  service  ;  in  the 
early  morning  a  song  service  with  a  solemn  oath  before  the  day's 
duties,  and  later  the  communion  ;  but  we  must  remember  that  this 
is  the  report  of  an  outsider  who  may  have  understood  the  matter  but 
imperfectly.  The  Christians  adopted  fixed  hours  of  prayer  from  the 
Jews,6  one  of  which  was  in  the  early  morning.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  Pliny  confused  the  morning  hour  of  prayer  with  the  day  serv- 
ice. This  seems  the  more  probable,  since  thirty-six  years  later 
(A.  D.  139)  Justin  Martyr  reports  a  much  more  developed  service. 
He  says  :6 


Burbidge,  p.  20.  2  Burbidge,  p.  5.  Vsjsehatf,  vol.  1,  p.  87 

Burbidge.  p.  26.  5  Burbidge,  p.  1 12.  U  Burbidge,  p. :.';. 


8  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

On  the  day  called  Sunday  a  meeting  takes  place  of  all  who  dwell  in  cities  or 
in  the  country,  and  the  memoirs  of  the  Apostles  or  the  writings  of  the  Prophets 
are  read  as  long  as  time  permits.  Then,  when  the  reader  ceases,  the  one  who 
takes  the  lead  admonishes  by  word  of  mouth  and  exhorts  to  the  imitation  of 
these  good  things.  Then  we  all  vise  together  and  put  up  prayers  ;  and,  as  was  said 
before,  when  we  have  ceased  from  prayer,  bread  is  offered  and  wine  and  water, 
and  be  who  takes  the  lead  puts  up  prayers  likewise,  and  thanksgivings  according 
to  bis  ability,  and  the  people  give  their  assent,  saying,  Amen. 

Justin  Martyr  knew  the  church  service,  and  his  report  is  authori- 
tative. It  reveals  a  more  formal  service  than  that  of  the  first  de- 
cades, the  exercises  consisting  of  Reading,  Exhortations,  Prayer, 
the  Eucharist,  and  Thanksgiving.  These  he  names,  as  we  judge 
from  later  liturgies,  in  the  order  of  service.  The  Eucharist,  a 
thanksgiving  in  act,  closing  appropriately  with  a  thanksgiving  in 
word,  is  fitly  introduced  by  the  Prophets  or  Acts,  with  exhortation 
and  prayer. 

Two  hundred  years  pass  by  within  which  is  found  no  extended 
report  of  the  manner  of  worship.  Then  appear  the  Apostolic 
Constitutions,  from  which  is  drawn  the  so-called  Clementine  Liturgy, 
which  is  as  follows  :: 

Lection  from  Law  and  Prophets.2 

Lection  from  Epistles. 

Lection  from  Gospels. 

Sermon. 

Litanies  for  Catechumens,  etc.,  and  Dismissal. 

Litany  for  Faithful. 

The  Peace  of  God  be  with  you  all. 

Kiss  of  Peace. 

Washing  of  Hands. 

Offering  of  the  Gifts.3 

Prayer  of  Bishop. 

The  Grace  of  Almighty  God,  and  the  Love,  etc.. 

Sursum  Corda. 

Preface  ending  with  Sanetus. 

Commemoration  of  the  work  of  Redemption. 

Words  of  Institution  :  In  the  night  in  which  He  was  betrayed. 

Offering  in  remembrance  of  Passion. 

[nvooatioD  of  Holy  Spirit. 

Prayer  for  the  whole  Church,  including  the  faithful  departed. 

Peace  of  <  k>d  be  with  you  all.      Prayer  of  Humble  Access. 

ilolv  things  to  Holy.      R.  One  holy,  etc.     Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  etc. 

Communion,     Psalm  xxxiv. 

Thanksgiving. 


i  Burbidge,  Front.  2  The  Little  Entrance  or  Introit. 

3  The  Great  Entrance  or  Offertory. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  9 

In  this  liturgy  of  the  fourth  century  we  see  much  more  clearly  the 
dramatic  character  of  the  service,  which  may  now  he  roughly  divided 
into  two  acts.  The  Eucharist  holds  as  ever  the  commanding  posi- 
tion. The  first  act  is  one  of  preparation  ;  the  second  leads  directly 
to  the  Eucharist,  its  fitting  climax. 

As  to  the  method  of  division  in  this  inchoate  drama  there  may  be 
different  views.  Klein,1  having  in  mind  the  Liturgy  of  St.  Chrysos- 
tom,"  in  which  a  '  Preparation '  precedes  the  Introit,  casts  the  church 
service  into  three  acts,  the  first  closing  immediately  before  the  In- 
troit, the  second  before  the  Great  Entrance.  Dr.  Schaff3  holds  that 
every  Oriental  liturgy  is  a  symbolical  drama  of  two  acts,  the  second 
act  beginning  with  Sursum  Corda.  It  might  be  as  satisfactory  to 
consider  the  liturgy  as  a  drama  of  two  acts,  the  first  beginning  with 
the  Introit— the  Introduction,  where  there  is  one,  being  treated 
as  a  species  of  prologue — and  the  second  opening  with  the  Great 
Entrance. 

The  exact  method  of  division  is  immaterial.  The  fact  remains 
that  we  have  in  the  Clementine  Liturgy  a  dramatic  framework  which 
needed  only  the  interspersion  of  the  quick  exchange  of  act  and 
speech  to  form  a  veritable  drama.  This  need,  however,  was  a  serious 
one,  and  a  rival  sect  was  not  slow,  as  we  shall  see,  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  defect. 

In  some  form  singing  of  psalms  had  been  a  feature  of  the  church 
worship  from  the  first.  There  had  been  some  definite  assignment  of 
musical  parts  in  temple  and  synagogue  worship  ;4  moreover,  Psalms 
24  and  134  appear  to  have  been  composed  for  antiphonal  singing. 
Philo  speaks  of  such  singing  among  the  Essenes,  in  language  which 
agrees  closely  with  that  used  by  Basil,  Bishop  of  Cresarea,  in 
370  A.  D.,  when  he  says/  "And  now,  divided  into  two  parts,  they 
sing  alternately  to  each  other.  Afterwards  they  commit  the  leading 
of  the  melody  to  one,  and  the  rest  follow  him."  Pliny's  statement 
that  the  Christians  sang  "  amongst  themselves  in  turn  "  proves  its 
survival  among  the  Christians. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  the  method  of  singing  may  have  been,  that 
lively  altei'nation,  which  gives  movement  and  interest  to  antiphonal 
singing,  must  have  been  lacking.  Indeed  there  are  signs  that  music 
itself  fell  into  disuse  or  was  of  little  prominence,  for  no  writer  after 
St.  Chrysostom  could  have  omitted,  as  did  Justin  Martyr,8  all  men- 
tion of  it,  in  a  description  of  the  service. 

i  Klein,  vol.  4,  p.  10.              2  Burbidge,  Front.  3  Schaff,  vol.  3,  p.  534. 

■»  Smith's  Diet,  of  Christian  Biog.  s.  v.  Ignatius.  6  Burbidge,  p.  13.         6  See  p.  8. 

Trans.  Conn.  Acad.,  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892. 
2 


10  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  the  orthodox  church  saw 
dark  days.  The  Arian  sect,  with  its  taking  hymnology,  was  militant 
in  the  Christian  world.  The  orthodox  Bishop  of  Antioch  was  driven 
into  exile,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  faithful  sank  to  a  low  ebb.  It 
was  at  this  time,  tradition  says,  that  Flavius1  and  Diodorus  of 
Antioch  revived — or,  possibly  more  accurately,  invented — antiphonal 
singing.  In  any  case,  the  time  was  ripe  for  it.  St.  John  Chrysos- 
tom2  used  it  in  processions  to  combat  Arian  hymnology,  and  Am- 
brose,3 Bishop  of  Milan,  brought  it  to  the  West. 

For  many  characteristics  of  antiphonal  singing  the  church  was 
probably  indebted  to  the  Greek  drama.  The  Arian  h}Tmnology  had 
made  clear  the  need  of  a  more  prominent  musical  element,  but 
does  not,  so  far  as  can  now  be  determined,  satisfactorily  explain  the 
peculiar  arrangement  of  antiphonal  singing.  If  one  will  place  the 
liturgical  service  side  by  side  with  one  of  the  old  Greek  tragic  dra- 
mas, he  will  be  struck  by  the  correspondence  of  function  between  the 
choir  of  the  one  and  the  chorus  of  the  other.  This  pertains  not 
alone  to  the  frequent  dividing  and  reuniting  of  chorus  and  choir 
respectively,  nor  to  the  distribution  of  the  singing  throughout  the 
action  of  the  play  and  liturgy,  but  is  present  in  a  more  subtle  sense. 
The  chorus  interprets  and  accentuates  the  action  of  the  drama,  but 
rarely  advances  it.  The  choir  discharges  the  same  office  continually 
for  the  service  of  the  liturgy,  as  it  passes  on  to  its  climax  in  the 
Eucharist. 

If  now  the  Responsoria  are  added  to  this  forming  liturgy — which, 
however,  tradition  assigns  to  the  Italians,  but  which  seem  so  close  a 
copy  of  the  interchange  of  speech  between  the  protagonist  and 
chorus,  and  are  so  strikingly  akin  to  the  antiphon  that  one  must 
suspect  a  common  origin — the  liturgy  has  received  in  the  fourth 
century  that  final  form  and  texture  which  through  the  use  of  fifteen 
centuries  has  remained  practically  unaltered.  Additions,  expansions, 
intrusions,  have  at  times  been  made,  but  the  Roman  and  English 
liturgies  of  to-day  are  essentially  the  same  as  St.  Chrysostom's  Lit- 
urgy of  the  fourth  century. 

Nor  should  it  be  thought  singular  that  the  Fathers  looked  to 
the  classic  theater  for  aid.  The  theater  had  a  strong  hold  upon  the 
people  ;  witness  TertullianV  De  Spectaculis  (A.  D.  200)  against  plays, 
and  St.  John  Chrysostom's6  threat  of  excommunication,  if  any  of  his 


i  smith's  Diet,  of  Christian  Biog.  s.  v.  Flavius.  2  Schaff,  vol.  3,  p.  579. 

«  Smith's  Diet,  of  Christian  Biog.  s.  v.  Ambrose.  *  Hase,  p.  1. 

»  Hase,  i>.  5. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  11 

flock  attended  theaters  on  holy  days.  That  they  should  go  for  aid 
to  the  classic  plays,  which  were  still  used  for  closet  study,  is  no 
Stranger  than  that  they  should  adopt  the  Roman  basilica  for  a 
church  type,  or  plant  Christmas'  upon  the  Roman  Saturnalia.  The 
church  had  need  of  these  things,  and  used  them  so  wisely  that 
it  made  out  of  the  skeleton  of  the  Clementine  Liturgy  an  artis- 
tically complete  symbolical  drama  in  the  St.  Chrysostom  Liturgy. 
The  symbolical  character  of  their  worship  was  emphasized  by  his- 
torical, typical,  and  allegorical2  pictures,  among  which  '  Adam  and 
Eve,'  the  'Adoration  of  the  Magi,'  and  the  'Shepherd  who  carries 
the  Lost  Lamb  upon  his  Shoulders'  are  enumerated.8  Some  of  these 
were  passing  out  of  use  by  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  as 
discarded  molds,  no  longer  suitable  for  the  thought  of  the  church. 
Furthermore,  the  readiness  with  which  the  church  assimilated  Greek 
culture  is  easily  accounted  for  when  we  reflect  that*  "to  Justin 
Martyr,  Origen,  and  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Greek  philosophy  was 
the  bridge  to  the  Christian  faith." 

However,  the  distance  from  the  symbolical  drama  to  the  tragic 
is  not  easily  passed.  It  cannot  be  bridged  by  any  development  of 
symbolism  itself.  The  difference  is  essential  and  intrinsic.  In  the 
first  place,  abstract  thought  that  does  not  admit  of  concrete  presenta- 
tion cannot  form  even  a  symbolical  drama.  Hence  where  philoso- 
phy, as  in  India,  has  dominated  thought  since  the  rise  of  literature, 
there  can  be  no  true  drama. 

The  Hindoos'  one  attempt  to  form  a  mystery  play,  the  Prabodha- 
Chandrodaya,6  the  Birth  of  Ideas,  shows,  through  the  superlative 
hideousness  of  its  allegorical  actors,  the  violent  forcing  of  material 
into  unnatural  expression.  Even  in  the  florescence  of  Attic  tragedy 
the  authors  recognized  vaguely  that  the  rising  schools  of  philosophy 
were  their  foes.  When  the  domination  of  Attic  thought  by  philos- 
ophy was  finally  complete,  the  drama  forsook  its  ideals,  and  sought 
for  motive  in  society  and  intrigue. 

In  the  Christian  liturgy,  symbolism  presented  at  second  hand  the 
concrete  embodiment  of  the  profoundest  ethical  philosophy,  since 
the  tableaux  and  allegories  pictured  the  story  of  Christ,  who  offered 
in  his  own  life  and  action  a  solution  of  the  ethical  problems  of  the 
race.  The  true  literary  expression  of  this  material  was  found  in  the 
allegorical  poems  so  abundant  in  the  Middle  Ages,  which  ultimately 

i  Wilken,  pp.  1,  2.  2  Sctaaff,  vol.  2,  p.  274. 

3 1  And  no  evidence  of  living  tableaux  in  the  church  at  this  date,  as  given  by  Klein,  vol. 
4,  p.  11.  *  Schaff,  vol.  1,  p.  78.  6  Klein,  vol.  3,  p.  15. 


^O       OP  THE      *^ 


12  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

attained  their  richest  flowering  in  the  Divina  Commedia  and  the 
Fairy  Queen.  The  true  drama  demands  material  that  can  be  made 
one  with  the  actor.  The  profoundest  philosophy  can  be  presented, 
as  in  Hamlet  or  King  Lear,  but  it  must  be  presented  indirectly 
through  the  life,  or  the  results  arising  from  the  life,  of  the  actor. 

The  tragic  drama  demands  situations  that  shall  excite  the  deepest 
emotions  in  the  spectator,  and  as  agent  a  soul  great  enough  to  combat 
mighty  influences,  that  the  beholder's  liveliest  sympathy  may  be 
called  into  action.  Can  these  conditions  be  met  by  a  drama  that 
attains  its  climax  in  a  thank-offering  ?  If  not,  then,  after  the  sym- 
bolical drama  was  established  in  the  Christian  liturgy,  further  dra- 
matic advance  was  impossible.  The  service  might  be  loaded  with 
ornament — incense,  genuflections,  vestments  ;  but  these  could  only 
cloud  the  simple  dramatic  outline  of  the  early  liturgy.  The  passage 
to  true  dramatic  expression  remained  impossible. 

Meanwhile,  the  old  drama  had  sunk  into  utter  darkness,  beneath 
the  contempt  of  men  and  through  the  puerility  and  grossness  of  its 
matter.  For  five  centuries  the  world  waited  for  the  drama.  From 
the  Christian  worship,  its  proper  source,  it  could  not  come  without 
some  essential  change  within  the  liturgy  itself,  yet  the  thought  of 
Europe  was  wholly  taken  up  with  the  story  of  the  Christ  and  the 
wonderful  plan  of  salvation  which  had  been  elaborated  by  the 
theologians. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  signs  that  a  drama  might  have  arisen  in 
time  from  another  source.  The  pastoral  of  Theocritus  had  devel- 
oped in  dialogue.  Whether,  without  the  aid  of  the  religious  drama, 
it  could  have  acquired  sufficient  plot  of  dramatic  quality  to  form 
even  the  pastoral  drama  which  later  spread  through  Western  Europe, 
is  an  interesting  question.  Its  indebtedness  to  the  religious  drama 
can  be  plainly  seen  in  Spain,  where  Enzina1  used  the  church  drama 
as  an  aid  to  the  pastoral,  and  set  the  type  for  Spain  and  Portugal. 
But  the  passage  from  pastoral  to  tragedy  would  have  been  a  giant 
stride,  and  proved  unnecessary,  for  within  the  liturgy  grew  up  the 
needful  tragic  motive,  and  from  that  sprang  the  religious  drama.  It 
becomes  our  next  task  to  show  the  shifting  of  standpoint  within  the 
liturgy  which  arose  from  the  acceptance  of  a  new  theological  dogma, 
to  detect  the  introduction  of  a  genuinely  tragic  moment,  and  to  trace 
the  growth  of  dramatic  expression  within  the  church  service  itself. 


Ticknor,  vol.  1,  p.  345. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  13 


IT. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF   TRANSUBSTANTIATION   AS   A  DRAMATIC 
MOTIVE. 

It  is  probable  that  from  a  very  early  clay  the  church  considered 
the  Eucharist  as  something  more  than  a  commemorative  breaking  of 
bread.  It  is  certain  that  within  the  first  centuries  the  belief  that  in 
some  mystical,  spiritual  sense  Christ  was  present  in  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  prevalent  in  the  church.  But  this  mysticism,  so 
attractive  to  the  mind  of  the  Oriental,  is  contrary  to  the  habits  of 
Western  thought,  which  seeks  for  reality  beneath  speculation,  and 
for  a  philosophy  that  can  be  mirrored  in  the  life.  Therefore  we 
see  without  surprise  as  early  as  the  sixth  century  signs  of  approach- 
irg  materialistic  views  of  the  Eucharist.  St.  Gregory's  words,1 
"  Take  this  bread  and  offer  it  as  a  sacrifice  for  my  sins,"  show  that 
the  propitiatory  idea  was  superseding  the  idea  of  thank-offering. 
Still  it  won  its  way  but  slowly.  It  is  not  found  in  the  Liturgy  of 
St.  Gregory,  upon  which  the  mediaeval  Mass  was  built,  though  with 
many  additions.2 

Not  until  the  ninth  century3  did  the  doctrine  of  the  Sacrament 
become  an  object  of  controversy.  The  issue  was  defined  when  Rad- 
bertus  propounded  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation,  in  his  treatise 
addressed  to  Charles  the  Bald.4  The  controversy  that  immediately 
arose  shows  how  foreign  such  views  were  to  the  theological  thought 
of  the  time.  Nevertheless,  once  formulated,  the  tenet  rapidly 
gained  credence,  and  the  treatment  which  Berengar6  received  in  the 
eleventh  century,  because  he  held  that  Christ  was  present  in  the 
Eucharist  in  a  spiritual  sense  only,  proves  how  completely  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Real  Presence  had  gained  the  day. 

Within  these  two  centuries,  from  the  last  half  of  the  ninth  to  the 
first  half  of  the  eleventh,  this  most  momentous  change  had  taken 
place  in  Christian  thought.  Within  these  two  centuries  the  dra- 
matic development  of  the  liturgy  began  in  all  countries  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith.  This  is  more  than  coincidence.  It  is  cause  and 
effect.  The  dramatic  element,  hitherto  lacking  in  the  Christian 
liturgy,  was  now  present  through  a  belief  that  aroused  the  most 
intense  emotions  in  the  worshiper.  Day  after  day  the  devout  among 
the  clergy  saw  the  Son  of  God  offered  up,  a  present  sacrifice,  for 
their  sins.     What  act  of  more  awful  import  could  be  imagined  ! 

i  Burbidpre,  p.  95.  i  Burbidge,  p.  67.  3  Schaff,  vol.  3,  p.  492. 

*  McClintock  and  Strong,  s.  v.  Lord's  Supper.  b  Schaff,  vol.  4,  p.  556. 


1 4  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

And  when  the  church  services,  following  the  incidents  of  His  life, 
came  around  to  the  dates  of  His  death  and  resurrection,  what  longing 
must  have  possessed  them  to  present  vividly  to  the  ignorant  and 
heedless  multitude  those  moments  now  stored  for  them  with  such 
sacred  meaning  ! 

The  liturgical  drama,  therefore,  is  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  a 
situation  well  stated  by  Dr.  Schaff  : 

In  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  the  whole  mysterious  fulness  and  glory  of  the 
Catholic  worship  is  concentrated.  Here  the  idea  of  the  priesthood  reaches  its 
dizzy  summit,  and  here  the  devotion  and  awe  of  the  spectator  rises  to  the  high- 
est pitch  of  adoration.1 

Or  it  ma}1-  be  stated  in  words  which  the  Catholic  Church  accepts  : 

The  Church  commemorates  every  day  the  bloody  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  on 
the  Cross,  by  a  true  and  real  unbloody  sacrifice  :  in  which  she  offers  to  God  the 
same  body  and  blood  that  were  given  for  the  sins  of  the  world.2 

These  words,  through  continual  repetition  and  the  unbelief  of  our 
day,  no  longer  appeal,  even  to  those  who  accept  them,  with  a  tithe 
of  the  force  with  which  they  impressed  the  credulous  minds  of 
mediaeval  times.  To  them  the  immediate  result  was  a  notable 
increase  in  the  spirit  of  devotion,  which  expressed  itself  in  the  elabo- 
rate rituals,  and  in  the  desire  to  present  this  awful  sacrifice  to  the 
people  as  vividly  as  the  priests  themselves  felt  it.  This  dramatic 
development  of  the  liturgy  did  not  owe  its  origin  to  the  frivolous 
and  irreverent  among  the  clergy,  though  these,  doubtless,  eagerly 
seized  upon  it  for  amusement,  but  to  the  reverent  desire  of  the  pious 
to  present  Christ's  life  vividly  to  the  people,  a  desire  that  could  now 
find  true  dramatic  expression,  since  the  Mass  was  no  longer  a  symbol, 
but  a  veritable  life  history,  closing  before  the  eyes  of  the  spectators 
in  a  most  sublime  self-sacrifice. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  under  the  new  view  of  the  Eucharist  the 
liturgy  presented  dramatic  moments  of  heightened  interest  at  each 
salient  point  of  Christ's  career.  These  fall  naturally  into  two  groups  : 
those  of  his  birth  and  childhood,  and  those  that  pertain  to  his  death 
and  resurrection,  the  latter  forming  a  group  of  most  intensely  dra- 
matic  value. 

A-  Sunday  after  Sunday  the  people  see  the  Christ  actually  lifted 
up  before  them,  the  sense  of  the  reality  of  the  sacrifice  grows. 
When  with  Holy  Week  the  altars  are  stripped  and  continual  suppli- 
cation and  lamentation  fill  the  church,  they  are  prepared  to  feel  on 


i  Schaff,  vol.  3,  p.  505.  2  The  Office  of  the  Holy  Week. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays,  15 

Good  Friday  thai  an  actual  sacrifice  of  momentous  consequence  to 
them  is  taking  place.  The  new  sense  of  the  import. of  this  sacrifice 
heightens  the  devotional  feeling  in  the  clergy,  and  they  long  to 
make  this  as  real  to  the  people  as  it  is  to  themselves,  and  sometimes 
to  make  it  as  vivid  to  their  own  consciousness  as  it  is  to  their  faith. 
This  led  to  a  more  realistic  presentation  of  the  awful  sacrifice  and  of 
the  joy  of  the  Resurrection. 

We  must  not,  however,  expect  that  the  history  of  these  dramatic 
moments  will  be  the  same.  The  Crucifixion  was  too  solemn  a  thing 
for  elaborate  realism,  but  the  Resurrection  readily  lent  itself  to  dra- 
matic presentation.  Therefox*e  we  must  expect  to  find  the  Cruci- 
fixion a  reverent  but  slightly  developed  drama,  until  it  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  people,  and  time  and  custom  had  deadened  then- 
sense  of  its  sacredness. 


III. 


THE    DRAMA    OF    HOLY   WEEK    IN    THE    CATHOLIC  LITURGY 
OF   MODERN   TIMES. 

We  turn  now  to  the  records  that  remain,  and  will  attempt  to  trace 
the  development  of  these  two  dramatic  moments,  considering  first 
the  dramatic  traces  in  the  modern  Roman  Liturgy  of  Holy  Week, 
and  next  in  the  old  English  liturgies,  passing  thence  to  the  more 
elaborate  development  in  the  liturgies  of  the  continent,  where  we 
will  trace  the  Crucifixion  and  the  Resurrection  independently. 

The  liturgy  of  modern  times,  according  to  the  author1  chosen, 
admits  of  the  following  sketch  of  dramatic  action. 

THE  MORNING  OFFICE  FOR  GOOD  FRIDAY. 

THE   MASS. 

The  Priest  and  his  Ministers,  in  black  vestments,  go  to  the  Altar,  without 
lights  and  incense,  and  prostrate  themselves  before  it:  while  the  Acolytes  cover  it 
with  one  linen  cloth.  The  gospel  is  St.  John  18.  After  the  prayers  the 
Priest  puts  off  his  vestment,  and  taking  from  the  Altar  the  Cross  covered  with 
a  veil,  he  goes  to  the  epistle-comer,  where  he  uncovers  the  top  of  it,  and  shows 
it  to  the  people,  singing  the  Antiphon:  Ecce  lignum  crucis.  Then  the  Deacon 
and  Subdeacon  join  with  him  in  singing  the  rest:  In  quo  salus  mundi  pependit. 
And  the  choir  prostrate  on  the  ground  answers:  Venite,  adoremus.  From  thence 
the  Priest  proceeds  to  the  right  side  of  the  Altar,  where  he  uncovers  the  right 
arm  of  the  Cross,  singing  a  second  time,  ecce  lignum,  as  before.     Lastly,  he  goes 


i  The  Office  of  the  Holv  Week. 


16  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

to  the  middle  of  the  Altar,  and  uncovers  the  whole  Cross,  singing  a  third  time, 
ecce  lignum.  After  this,  he  carries  it  to  a  place  prepared  before  the  Altar, 
where  he  adores  first  himself,  and  then  the  clergy  and  laity,  all  kneeling  thrice 
on  both  knees,  and  kissing  the  feet  of  the  Crucifix.  When  the  adoration  of  the 
Cross  is  almost  finished,  the  candles  upon  the  Altar  are  lighted,  and  after  the 
adoration  the  Cross  is  placed  again  upon  the  Altar. 

Afterwards  the  Priest  receives  in  communion  the  host  that  has 
been  consecrated  on  Maundy  Thursday,  and  placed  in  a  tabernacle 
appropriately  decorated  and  lighted. 

There  is  in  this  no  sign  of  the  mediaeval  custom  of  placing  Christ 
in  the  sepulchre,  but  our  author  states  that  a  custom,  which  is  very 
significant,  is  observed  by  the  laity.  After  the  host  is  placed  in  the 
tabernacle  on  Maundy  Thursday,  it  is  visited  by  the  laity,  who  call 
this  '  Visiting  Sepulchres,' '  which  our  author  cannot  reconcile  with 
"  lights  and  the  richest  ornaments ;  things  very  unbecoming  a  sep- 
ulchre." 

This  custom  is,  however,  easily  explained,  if  we  compare  with  the 
modern  service  the  ceremony  as  given  by  the  York  Missal"  of  the 
twelfth  century.  I  omit  all  before  the  adoration,  as  the  variations 
are  unimportant  and  foreign  to  our  purpose.     It  reads  : 

Dura  populus  adorat,  canatur  Antiphona  cum  Versu.  .  .  .  Tandem  adorata 
Cruce,  bajulent  earn  duo  Vicarii  usque  ad  locum  sepulcri,  ubi  Pra?latus  earn 
accipiens  incipiat  has  Antiphonas,  et  Chorus  finiat.  .  .  .  Postea  Praelatus  ponat 
llixis  genibus  ( Irucem  in  sepulchre*  et  duos  cereos  accensos  cum  duobus  urceis  ; 
postea  thurificet  earn,  et  tunc  erectus  incipiat  Antiphonam. 

Although  in  the  Missal  for  Good  Friday  nothing  is  said  abouj, 
placing  a  host  with  the  crucifix  in  the  sepulchre,  we  know  that  it 
was  done  ;  for,  in  the  Missal  for  Thursday,  Feria  Y.  in  die  Cense, 
we  read:3 

Ponantur  a  Diacono  lares  hostiae  ad  consecrandum,  quarum  duae  reserventur  in 
crust mum,  una  ad  percipiendum  ab  Executore  Officii;  reliqua,  ut  ponatur  cum 
Cruce  in  Sepnlchro. ' 


i  The  Office  of  the  Holy  Week,  p.  183. 

iThe  Fork  Missal,  vol.  l,  pp.  \m-~.  Note.— MS.  A,  owned  by  ttev.  .lohn  Gott,  Leeds, 
Bng.,  is  in  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  in  part  of  the  fifteenth.  MS.  l)  is  in  the  library 
of  Sidnej  Sussex  College,  Cambridge.  It  is  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  contains  many 
rubrics  nol  given  In  the  other  six  MSS.  The  portion  of  MS.  A  used  in  this  work  is  of 
the  twelfth  centurj .    The  portions  from  MS.  D  are  noted. 

»The  Fork  Missal,  p.  97,  MS.  D. 

i  In  theabbey  ohurcfa  of  Durham  the  host  was  inclosed  in  crystal,  and  set  into  the 
breaal  of  the  image  of  the  savior.  Hone's  Ancient  Mysteries,  p.  223,  quoting  from 
Davles's  Kites  ol   the  Cathedral  of  Durham. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  1 1 

That  is,  the  first  of  the  three  is  used  on  Thursday,  the  second  on 
Friday  after  the  priest  returns  to  the  altar,  and  the  third  rests  in 
the  sepulchre.1 

i  Parker's  Glossary  of  Architecture  gives  under  '  Sepulchre  '  the  following:  "A  rep- 
resentation of  the  entombment  of  our  Savior,  set  up  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church  at 
Easter  on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel,  near  tlie  altar ;  in  this  country  previous  to  the 
Reformation,  it  was  most  commonly  a  wooden  erection,  and  placed  within  a  recess  in  the 
wall  or  upon  a  tomb,  but  several  churches  still  contain  permanent  stone  structures  that 
were  built  for  that  purpose,  some  of  which  are  very  elaborate,  and  are  ornamented 
with  a  variety  of  decorations,  as  at  Navenby  and  Heckington,  Lincolnshire;  and  Haw- 
ton,  Nottinghamshire,  all  of  which  are  beautiful  specimens  of  the  Decorated  style : 
sepulchres  of  this  kind  also  remain  in  the  churches  at  Northwold,  Norfolk;  Holcombe 
Burnell,  Southpool,  and  Woodleigh,  Devonshire ;  and  in  several  others.  .  .  .  The  lower 
part  generally  contains  representations  of  sleeping  soldiers,  intended  for  the  Roman 
guard." 

Britton's  Redcliffe  Church,  p.  27,  quoted  by  Parker  :— 

Item,  That  Maister  Canynge  hath  deliver'd  this  4th  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord,  1470,  to  Maister  Nicholas  Petters,  vicar  of  St.  Mary  Redcliffe:  Moses  Conterin, 
Philip  Barthelmew,  procurators  of  St.  Mary  Redcliffe,  aforesaid :  a  new  sepulchre  well 
gilt  with  golde,  and  a  civer  thereto. 

Item,  An  image  of  God  Almighty  i-ising  out  of  the  same  sepulchre,  with  all  the  ordi- 
nance that  'longeth  thereto,  (that  is  to  say)  a  lathe  made  of  timber  and  the  iron-work 
thereto. 

Item,  Thereto  'longeth  Heaven,  made  of  timber  and  stain'd  clothes. 

Item,  Hell  made  of  timber,  and  iron-work  thereto,  with  Divels  to  the  number  of  13. 

Item,  4  Knights  armed,  keeping  the  sepulchre,  with  their  weapons  in  their  hands ; 
that  is  to  say,  2  axes  and  2  spears,  with  2  paves. 

Item,  4  payr  of  Angels'  wings  for  4  Angels,  made  of  timber  and  well  painted. 

Item,  The  Fadre,  the  Crowne  and  Visage,  the  ball  with  a  Cross  upon  it,  well  gilt  with 
fine  gould. 

Item,  The  Holy  Ghosht  coming  out  of  Heaven  into  the  sepulchre. 

Item,  Longeth  to  the  4  Angels  4  Chevelers. 

Articles  of  Visitation,  by  Abp.  Cranmer,  2  Ed.  VI.,  quoted  by  Parker  :— 

Item,  Whether  they  had  upon  Good  Friday  last  past  the  sepulchres  with  their  lights, 
having  the  Sacrament  therein. 

Test.  Johan.  de  Ledes,  1379.    Test.  Ebor.  196,  quoted  by  Parker  :— 

Lego  duo  tapeta  rubea  diette  ecclesise  mea?  pro  reparacione  sepulchri  in  die  parascues. 

Accompts  of  S.  Helen's,  Abingdon.    Archaeol.  vol.  1,  p.  16,  quoted  by  Parker:— 

A.  D.  1558  :  Payde  for  making  the  Sepulture,  10s. 
For  peynting  the  same  sepulture,  3s. 
For  stones,  and  other  charges  about  it,  4s.  6d. 

To  the  sexton  for  meat  and  drink,  and  watching  the  sepulture,  according 
to  custom,  22<7. 

Hone's  Ancient  Mysteries,  p.  221,  quoting  the  Beehive  of  the  Romish  Church,  says : 
"  Yea,  and  in  some  places,  they  make  the  grave  in  a  hie  place  in  the  church  where  men 
must  goe  up  manie  steppes,  which  are  decked  with  blacke  cloth  from  above  to  beneath, 
and  vpon  euery  steppe  standeth  a  siluer  candlesticke  with  a  waxe  candle  burning  in  it, 
and  there  do  walke  souldiours  in  harnesse,  as  bright  as  Saint  George,  which  keepe  the 
grave,  till  the  priests  come  and  take  him  up  :  and  then  commeth  sodenlie  a  flash  of  Are, 
wherewith  they  are  all  afraid  and  fall  downe :  and  then  vpstarts  the  man,  and  they 
begin  to  sing  Alleluia,  on  all  hands,  and  then  the  clock  strikes  eleuen." 


18  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

.      IV. 

THE   DRAMA   OF   HOLY  WEEK   IN   THE  YORK   LITURGY. 

We  turn  now  to  the  Easter  service  in  the  mediaeval  liturgies,  and 
place  the  York  liturgy  in  comparison  with  the  continental  order  of 
service.  An  interesting  situation  is  revealed.  In  the  York  Missal 
the  traces  of  dramatic  action  are  scattered,  as  in  the  modern  liturgy, 
through  the  services  of  Easter,  Easter  Monday,  and  Easter  Tuesday, 
not  concentrated,  as  in  the  continental  liturgies,  in  the  service  of 
Easter.     In  the  Victimae  Paschali  Laudes  occurs  : 

Die  nobis,  Maria  !  quid  vidisti  in  via  ? 

Sepulchrum  Christi  viventis,  et  gloriam  vidi  resurgentis, 

Angelicos  testes,  sudarium  et  vestes. 

Surrexit  Christus  spes  inea,  praecedet  vos  in  Galilaeain. 

This  is  repeated  also  on  Monday  and  Tuesday.     On  Monday  we  find 
the  verse  preceding  to  he  : 

Angelns  Domini  descendit  de  ca?lo,  et  aecedens  revolvit  lapidem,  et  sedebat 
super  eum. 

On  Tuesday  the  verse  is  : 

Surrexit  Dominus  de  sepulchro,  qui  pro  nobis  pependit  in  ligno. 

In  the  York  Missal  the  Resurrection  Drama  also  appears  in  a 
broken  and  disconnected  condition.  On  Easter  Sunday,  after  bless- 
ing the  fire  and  the  water,  the  clergy  assume  festal  garments,  but  the 
Victimae  Paschali  Laudes  is  not  the  Sequence  for  the  day,  so  there  is 
absolutely  nothing  of  a  dramatic  nature  in  the  Easter  service.  In 
Feria  ii  post  Pascha,  however,  we  find  clear  traces.  Luke  24.  13- 
35,  is  read.     The  Offertorium  gives  :' 

Angelus  Domini  descendit  de  caelo,  et  dixit  mulieribus :  quern  quaeritis  ? 
surrexit,  sicut  dixit,  alleluya. 

In  Feria  iii  post  Pascha  appears  :\ 

V.  Angelus  Domini  descendit  de  caelo,  et  aecedens  revolvit  lapidem.  et  sedebat 
super  eum. 

V.  Respondens  auteni  angelus  dixit  mulieribus  :  Quern  quaeritis  ?  Ills  autem 
dixerunt :     Jesuni  Nazarenem. 

Then  follow  the  Victimae  Paschali  Laudes,  containing  : 
Die  nobis,  Maria,  quid  vidisti  in  via  '. 
Sepulchrum  Christi  viventis,  et  gloriam  vidi  resurgentis, 
Angelicos  testes,  sudarium  et  vestes. 
Surrexit  Christus  spes  nostra,  praecedet  vos  in  Galilaeani. 
Credendum  est  magis  soli  Maries  veraci,  quam  Judaeorum  turbae  fallaci. 
Scimus  Christum  surrexisse  a  mortuis  vere  ;  tu  nobis,  victor  Rex,  miserere. 


i  York  Missal,  p.  128.  2  York  Missal,  p.  129. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  19 

How  much  acting  accompanied  this  song  it  is  impossible  to  state 
with  certainty,  hut  one  may  venture  the  supposition  that  a  portion 
of  the  choir  or  certain  priests  sang  the  question  :  "  Die  nobis,  Maria, 
quid  vidisti  in  via  ?,"  that  the  three  following  lines  were  sung  by 
single  voices  personating  the  three  Maries  respectively,  that  the 
former  singers  then  followed  with  the  line  beginning  ';  Credendum," 
and  that  all  joined  in  the  last  line.  There  is  nothing  in  the  text  to 
indicate  the  method  of  rendering.  The  passage  is  in  prose  as  given 
above,  not  in  verse,  as  the  passage  given  by  Pollard1  seems  to  be. 

This  ends  the  direct  evidence  from  the  York  Missal,  but  not  the 
indirect.  There  must  have  been  more  to  this  drama  than  that  indi- 
cated in  the  text.  In  the  Good  Friday  service  the  crucifix  and  host 
were  placed  in  the  sepulchre  to  await  a  resurrection  on  Easter,  as 
we  know  from  the  continental  liturgies.  No  account  of  this  resur- 
rection is  given,  and,  as  there  is  a  distinct  change  in  the  service  on 
Easter,   when,   after  days  of   mourning  vestures   and  lamentation, 

Praelatus  cmn  septein  vel  quinque  Diaconibus  dalmaticatis,  et  totideni  Sub- 
diaconibus  tunicatis  festive  paratis.  pra?cedentibus  Cereferariis  et  duobus 
Tburiferis,  introeat  ad  Altare, 

I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  Resurrection  Play  took  place 
immediately  before  that  action. 

That  the  directions  for  the  drama  should  be  omitted  is  not  strange, 
as  in  many  churches,  continental  as  well  as  English,  the  Play  was 
regarded  as  foreign  to  the  service  and  excluded  from  the  Missal. 
Moreover,  we  have  direct  references  to  such  plays  in  two  places  in 
the  York  Missal.  On  Christmas — Ad  Missam  in  Gallicantu,2  MS. 
D  says  : 

Peractisque  ibidem  omnibus  quae  juxta  morem  dicenda  vel  facienda  sunt, 
ineipiat  Executor  Officiis  ad  Altare  Gloria  in  excelsis  cum  nota  de  angelis. 

And  for  Ad  Magnani  Missam  MS.  D  adds  :3 
Et  peractis  omnibus  ibidem,  quae  peragenda  sunt,  ineipiat  Sacerdos  orationem. 

These  prove  the  recognized  standing  of  such  plays,  though  out- 
side of  the  Missal,  and  also  that  the  directions  for  them  were  not 
always  inserted,  as  MS.  D  alone  has  them,  the  other  MSS.  being 
notably  deficient  in  rubrics  in  many  places.  This  closes  the  York 
testimony  concerning  these  plays,  and  we  pass  to  the  continent,  as 
I  have  not  the  Sarum  Use  at  hand. 

i  Pollard,  p.  xv.  2  York  Missal,  p.  14.  3  York  Missal,  p.  18. 


20  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


THE   DRAMA   OF   HOLY  WEEK   IN   EARLY  CONTINENTAL 
LITURGIES. 

The  traces  left  in  the  Alemannic  liturgy  will  serve  to  illustrate  the 
dramatic  features  of  the  continental  service. 

Ordo  in  Parasceve:1 

&  cruce  salutata,  &  in  suo  loco  reposita. 

Ordo  in  Parasceve:2 

Interim  Sacerdos  funiat  viaticum,  eatque  ad  sepnlchrum  cum  incenso  &  can- 
delis  cantando  IJ .  Agnus  Dei  Christus.  Ecce  quomodo  moritur,  cum  Versibus  & 
repetitionibus,  ponensque  illud  in  sepulchruin  incenset,  &  claudens  illud  cantet 
IJ.  Sepulto  Domino,  cum  Versu  &  repetitione,  ponaturque  cereus  ardens  ante 
sepulchrum. 

These  extracts  will  suffice  to  show  that  the  German  churches  were 
practically  in  accord  with  the  English  as  regards  the  Burial  Play. 

The  act  of  crucifixion  we  might  suppose  too  painful  a  scene  for 
realistic  presentation  in  the  service,  and  so  it  seems  to  have  been  in 
England,  but  on  the  continent  it  received  a  peculiar  dramatic  treat- 
ment. The  lamentation  on  Good  Friday  for  the  death  of  Christ 
was,  in  Germany,  Jerem.  chap,  i,  sung  with  a  touching  melody.8 
This  was  superseded  by  a  lamentation  of  Mary  of  which  we  have 
examples  in  both  Latin  and  German.  There  are  many  of  these 
'  Marienklagen.'  They  were  not  all,  however,  designed  for  the  Good 
Friday  service.  Some  are  addressed  to  Christ  upon  the  cross;  others 
show  plainly  by  their  content  that  they  were  sung  by  Mary  in  the 
Easter  service,  sometimes  just  before  the  Maries  began  their  walk 
to  the  tomb,  at  other  times  on  the  way  and  leading  up  to  the  Resur- 
rect ion  proper.  The  dramatic  development  of  the  former  was  evi- 
dently suggested  by  the  Biblical  narrative.  Mary  addresses  her 
Son  and  He  replies.  As  to  how  the  response  was  contrived  we  have 
no  information. 

Probably  the  first  steps  of  this  development  have  been  lost,  since 
the  earliest  form  that  we  have  is  in  metre  and  in  a  somewhat  com- 
plicated stanza.  From  a  Saint  Blasien  MS.  of  1440  at  Karlsruhe 
Mme  gives  :4 


1  Gerbertus,  vol.  2,  p.  204.  a  Gerbertus,  vol.  2,  p.  235. 

3  Mone,  p.  204.  4  Mone,  p.  42. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  21 

Pianettes  B.  Maria  virginis  ail  /ilium  in  rrurr  pendcnteni  : 

Virgo  plorans  filium 
ductus  ad  supplicium  : 
Die  o  rex  humilium, 

fill  quid  fecisti  i 
quia  gens  incredula, 
mordax  velut  vipera, 
te  traxit  ad  vincula 

et  crucem  subisti. 

This  continues  through  thirteen  stanzas.     Then  : 

Responsio  afflicti  Jilii  ad  moestissimam  matrem. 

This  Responsio  closes  the  song  in  five  stanzas. 

The  next  step  of  dramatic  development  is  shown  in  a  MS.  of 
1439,  now  in  the  library  of  Karlsruhe,  but  written  in  Florence.1 
The  metre  is  more  simple,  but  the  lyrical  dialogue  has  been  greatly 
expanded.     It  begins  : 

Ante  crucem  virgo  stabat, 
Christi  poenas  cogitabat, 
totani  se  dilaniabat, 
vultura  lavat  lacrimis, 

and  continues  through  eight  stanzas,  when  Christ  replies  in  four 
stanzas,  Mary  answering  in  three.  Then,  Respondet  crux  Marios 
in  seven  stanzas,  Mary  replies  in  three,  and  the  cross  closes  the  dia- 
logue in  four.3 

Our  next  example  passes  from  the  language  of  the  church  to  the 
tongue  of  the  people.  The  MS.  is  judged  to  be  of  about  1430."  I 
give  it  in  full,  as  it  is  comparatively  short,  and  yet  contains  all  the 
distinctive  features  of  the  lamentation  after  it  had  passed  into  the 
vulgar  tongue.4 


i  Mone,  p.  37. 

2  Note.— Compare  with  these  the  "  Stabat  Mater :  The  Lamentation  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  a  Sequence  or  Prose,  appointed,  in  the  Roman  Missal,  to  be  sung  between 
the  Epistle  and  the  Gospel,  at  High  Mass,  on  the  Friday  in  Passion  Week,  and  the 
Third  Sunday  in  September.  The  Poem,  written  towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth 
century  by  Jacobus  de  Benedictus,  is  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  mediaeval  Latin 
prose."— Grove's  Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians  s.  v.  Stabat  Mater. 

3  Note.— It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  most  of  these  plays  are  older  than  the  MSS. 
containing  them.  Nevertheless,  the  development  in  Germany  seems  to  have  been 
slower  than  elsewhere,  and  consequently  many  steps  of  development,  elsewhere  lost, 
have  been  preserved  there. 

*  Hoffman,  vol.  2,  p.  281. 


22  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Marie  klage. 
Planctus  in  magna  sextaferia. 

Prima  Iohannes  dicit : 

Hoeret  lieben  liute  liberal 

Einen  jaemerlichen  schal. 

Maria  ist  herkomen 

Und  hat  leidigiu  maere  vernomen  : 

Ir  liebez  kint  si  gevangen 

Und  an  ein  kriuze  gehangen. 
Marin  (licit : 

Johannes  lieber  vrinnt  min 

Daz  du  sa?lec  niiiezest  sin, 

Wise  mich  an  die  stat 

Da  du  min  kint  gelazen  hast. 

Iohannes  dicit  demonstrando  super.  .  .  .  : 

Maria  sich  an  din  kint, 

Daz  die  argen  juden  blint 

An  ein  kriuze  habent  geslagen  : 

Des  muz  ich  dir  helfen  klagen. 
Maria  cantando  procedit  : 

Owe  owe  des  ganges  des  ich  gan 

Mit  jamer  und  mit  riuwen. 

Ich  mac  gesitzen  noch  gestan, 

Min  leit  wil  sich  verniuwen. 
Iesus  cantat  : 

Eli,  lamma  sabacthani,  Deus 
meus  ut  quam  dereliquisti  me  ? 
Judcei  annectant  elavos. 
Marin  cantat  : 

Owe  ich  hoere  einen  ruf  : 

Daz  ist  min  kint  Jesus  der  mich 
beschuf, 

Daz  vernim  ich  an  der  stimme. 

Ich  hoere  die  hemer  klingen 

Und  in  sin  in  angest  und  not. 

Owe  und  waerich  vor  im  tot ! 

Owe  ich  gen  wider  oder  viir, 

Ez  trit  ouch  nieman  vur  die  tiir 

Der  dise  marter  wende  : 

Des  \vindich  mine  hende. 

Ich  schrie  Kit  owe  owe, 

Nu  toetet  mich  und  lat  in  gen. 
Maria  dicii  : 

Johannes  lieber  vriunt  min, 

Nil  g&wir  zu  der  marter  sin, 

Und  hilf  mir  klagen  miniu  leit 

Diu  min  sendez  herze  treit. 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays.  23 


Johannes  dicit: 

.Maria  muter  reine, 

Weinen  inuge  wir  beide, 
Wan  una  nieman  troestet  mer  : 
Owe  mir  hiute  und  immormer. 
Maria  cantat  : 
Sihestu  wie  er  henget 
Und  wie  daz  blut  rennet 
Uz  sinem  reinen  libe  I 
(Iesus  (licit :) 

Sich,  muter,  sicb  !     Din  kint 

bin  ich 
Und  daz  ja?ruerlichen  hange. 
Des  sunders  tot  ich  nicht  enwil, 
Jobanni  dem  bevilh  ich  dich. 
Iohannes  dicit  ad  Mariam: 
Miiter  laz  din  traren  sin, 
Johannes  sol  wesen  der  sun  din 
Und  du  diu  muter  sin. 
Iesus  ad  Iohannem  dicit : 
Du  solt  ir  sun  wesen, 

So  muget  ir  beide  wol  genesen. 
Maria  cantat : 

Owe  owe  !  weinen  was  mir  unbekant. 

Sit  ich  muter  was  genant 

Und  doch  mannes  ane. 

0w§  !  nu.  ist  ze  weinen  mir  geschehen, 

Sint  ich  sinen  tot  muz  sehen 

Den  ich  ane  smerzen  gar 

Muter  unde  meit  gebar. 
[Here  follow  some  illegible  Latin  verses 

of  which  the  following  is  the  trans- 
lation] : 

Sun  Johannes  unde  neve  min, 

Du  solt  klagen  min  leit  und  daz  din. 

Sider  unz  ze  leid  ist  geschehn. 

Herzeleide  mtieze  wir  jehn. 

Owe  ach  und  jamers  zit 

Diu  an  sinem  tode  lit. 

Davon  mir  ein  scharpfez  swert 

Mine  sele  gar  durchvert. 
Iohannes: 

0  Maria  stella  maris 

our  tarn  grave  contristaris  '.  etc. 


A  still  further  development  is  shown  by  a  plaint  of  the  thirteenth 
century— the  MS.  is,  however,  of   the  fifteenth   century — which  is 


24  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

also  given  by  Hoffmann.1  It  begins  '  Incipit  planctns  Marias  vir- 
ginis,'  contains  406  verses,  and  is  accompanied,  as  is  the  case  with 
nearly  all  German  Marienklagen,  with  the  music.  The  stage  direc- 
tions are  in  Latin,  and  the  first  song  that  John  and  Peter  sing  is  in 
prose  Latin.  The  Savior  also  says  :  "  Mulier,  ecce  filius  tuus,"  and 
"  Ecce  mater  tua  "  in  speaking  to  John,  but  follows  each  with  four 
verses  in  German.  The  actors  are  Mary,  John,  Peter,  and  the  cru- 
cified Savior.  The  passage  of  time  is  shown,  and  is  evidently 
intended  to  cover  the  time  that  Mary  was  by  the  cross  in  the  Bib- 
lical narrative. 

As  kindred  to  the  above  plaints  we  can  best  consider  here  the 
lamentations  that  precede  the  Resurrection  Play  on  Easter.  In  a 
parchment  MS.  in  the  cloister  of  Lichtenthal  near  Baden,  in  a  hand- 
writing of  the  thirteenth  century,  is  found  what  Mone2  declares  to 
be  the  oldest  German  piece  that  he  has  discovered.     It  begins  : 

[MARIA  :] 
Awe  der  iemerleichen   clag, 
di  ich  muter  eine  trag 
von  clez  totez  wanne  ! 
weinen  waz  niir  unbechant, 
sit  ich  muter  was  genant, 
unci  cloch  mannes  anne  : 
nu  ist  ze  beinen  mir  gescheken, 
seit  ich  deinen  tot  muz  sehen. 
aube  der  laiden  merre  ! 
wainen,  clagen  muz  ich  ban, 
sam  der  freude  ni  gewan, 
von  meinez  hertzen  swerre. 
aube  tot, 
dlseu  not 

maht  du  mir  wol  enden, 
wilt  du  von  dir 
her  zu  mir 
deinnen  poten  senden. 

Three  stanzas  of  the  same  construction  follow,  then  John  speaks 
one  stanza,  then  Mary  and  John  continue  the  conversation  through 
six  stanzas  of  a  different  construction.  The  preparation  for  the 
walk  to  the  sepulchre  is  announced  by  six  Latin  verses,  and  Mary's 
decision  to  visit  the  sepulchre  is  given  in  the  words  : 

Sed  eamus  et  ad  ejus 

properemus  fcumulum, 

si  dileximus  viventem,3 

diligamus  mortuum. 

i  Hoffmann,  vol. :.',  p.  860.  i  Mone,  p.  27  and  p.  31.  »  See  pp.  25,  33. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  25 

This  loads  us  to  the  consideration  of  the  songs,  not  lamentations, 
which  sometimes  contained  the  Easter  Play  in  embryo,  and  some- 
times wore  introductory  to  it.  Of  the  former  we  have  this  of  the 
fourteenth  century  :' 

Duo  pueri  [maria  magdalena]  : 
Certe  inultis  argumentis  sudarrum  et  vestes. 

vidi  signa  resnrgentis.  surrexit  Christus  spes  raea, 

Qh&rus  ■  praecedet  suos  in  Galilaea. 

Die  nobis  Maria-,  [Chorus.-] 

quid  vidisti  in  via  '.  Credendum  est  inagis  soli  Mariae  veraci 

Duo  pueri  [maria  m.J  :3  <luam  Judaeorum  turbae  fallaci ; 

Sepulckrum  Christi  viventis  scimus  Christum  surrexisse 

et  gloriam  vidi  resnrgentis,  ex  mortuis  vere  ; 

angelicos  testes,  tu  nobis>  victor  rex>  miserere. 

Of  the  second  the  introductory  songs  in  the  plays  below,  given  as 
Milchsack's  fourth  group,4  will  serve  as  examples.  Our  considera- 
tion of  these  lyrics  may  well  close  with  Hoffman's  '  Ludus  de  Nocte 
Pasche,'  which  I  give  in  full,  as  showing  what  parts  in  the  transition 
the  Latin  and  vernacular  tongues  held  respectively  in  these  plays.6 

INCIPIT   LUDUS   DE    NOCTE    PASCHE. 

Prima  Maria  cant  at  : 

Hen  nobis  interims  mentes6 
quanti  pulsant  geinitus 
pro  nostro  consolatore, 
quo  privantur  miseri, 
queni  crudelis  Iudaaorum 
morti  dedit  populus. 
lam  percusso  heu  pastore 
oves  errant  misere, 
sic  magistro  discedente 
turbantur  discipuli 
atque  nos  absente  eo 
dolor  tenet  nimius. 
Sed  eamns  et  ad  eius 
properemus  tumulum. 
si  dileximus  viventem,1 
diligamus  et  mortuum 
et  ungamus  corpus  eius 
oleo  sanctissimo. 


i  Mone,  p.  22. 

2  Compare  (p.  2ti)  with  the  Victimas  Paschali  Laudes  of  the  York  Missal. 

3  Almost  all  important  MSS.  of  the  liturgical  drama  are  monastic  MSS.  (Les  Mysteres, 
par  L.  Petit  de  Julleville,  p.  31,  referring-  to  M.  L.  Gautier).  Consequently,  iti  those 
monasteries  where  women  were  not  permitted  to  enter,  the  Maries  were  represented  by 
boys.  *  See  p.  32.  »  Hoffmann,  2,  2T2.  6  See  p.  33.  i  See  pp.  24,  33. 

Trans.  Conn.  Acad.,  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892. 

3 


26  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Prima  Maria  dicit  Ehythmum: 

Owe,  owe  der  vil  grimmigen  hant 

Diu  aller  werlde  heilant 

An  daz  kriuze  hat  gehangen. 

Er  hat  durch  den  menschen  die  martel  enpfangen: 

Owe  ir  iuden,  welch  ein  groz  mort! 

Wie  ruichel  und  ungehort 

Versteinet  iuwer  herzen  sint! 

Ir  hat  gekriuzeget  die  muter  als  daz  kint 

Secunda  Maria  dicit  R : 

Owe!     wie  gar  irreclichen  ez  stet 
Da  daz  vihe  ane  hirten  get: 
Daz  mac  man  wol  heschouwen 
An  uns  drin  armen  vrouwen. 

Tertia  Maria  dicit  : 

Swester,  wir  wellen  vor  dem  tage 

G£n  zu  unsers  meisters  grabe, 

Und  bestrichen  sine  wanden  almitalle 

Mit  tiurer  guter  salben. 

Ich  han  ein  altgesprochen  wort 

Von  minen  eltern  dicke  gehort, 

Daz  diu  triuwe  si  allerbest 

Die  man  nach  dem  tode  leist. 

Waere  uns  nu  liep  der  lip  sin, 

Des  solden  wir  im  tun  guten  schin. 

Et  iii  momento  procedentes  ad  sepulchrum,  simul  cantando  Angelis , 
Sed  eamus  unguentum  emere, 
cum  quo  possimus  unguere 
corpus  domini  sacra  turn. 
Quis  re  vol  vet  nobis  ab  ostio  lapidem,' 
quem  tegere  sanctum  cernimus  sepulchrum  ? 

Tertia  Maria  dicit  lilujthvm  : 

Wer  will  uns  von  diseme  grabe 
Den  stein  heben  herabe  ? 
Daz  got  darumbe  si  sin  Ion 
Unde  helfe  in  in  den  obersten  tron. 

Tunc  Angeli  cantant : 
Quem  q\i;eritis,  o  tremulse  mulieres  in  hoc  tutmilo  plorantes  ?2 

Et  primus  .  [ngelus  dicit  I! : 

Wen  suchet  ir  drt  vronwen 
Mit  i inner  unde  mit  rouwen 
Also  vru  in  diseme  grabe 
An  diseme  osterlichen  tage  ? 


Seep.  34.  i  See  p.  34. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  27 

Marice  simul  cantant  Angelis: 

IrMim  Nazareiram  erucinxum  quaerimus. 

Tertiu  Maria  dicit  R: 

Wir  siichen  Jesuni  unsern  trost, 
Der  uns  von  siinden  hat  erlost. 

Angeli  simul  cantant : 
Non  est  hie  quern  quseritis,  sed  cito  euntes  nunciate  discipulis  eius  et  Petro 
quia  surrexit  Iesus. 

Secundus  Angelas  dicit  R: 

Er  enist  niht  hie,  er  ist  uferstanden 
Und  is  zu  Galilea  gegangen: 
Daz  saget  siuen  jungern  unde  Petro, 
Darunibe  diu  ganze  werlde  sol  wesen  vro. 

Et  tunc  Angeli  simul  cantant : 
Yenite1  et  videte  locum  ubi  positus  erat  doininus,  alleluia  alleluia! 
Sehet  in  daz  grap 
Da  got  selber  in  lac. 
Er  ist  uferstanden 
Und  ist  zu.  Galilea  gegangen. 

Tunc  Marice  recedendo  simul  cantant:'2 

Ad  moniiinentum  veninius  gementes, 

angelos  domini  sedentes 

vidimus  et  dicentes 

quia  sun-exit  Iesus. 

Wir  waren  gegangen  zu  dein  grabe, 

Da  was  der  stein  gehaben  herabe. 

Do  sprachen  zwene  engel  klar 

Genzlichen  vtirwar: 

Iesus  ist  erstanden 

Von  des  todes  banden, 

Und  sprachen:  saget  Petro  und  den  jungern  sin, 

Daz  er  von  dem  tode  erstanden  si. 

This  drama  continues  with  the  incident  of  the  Savior's  appearing 
as  the  gardener'  to  Mary,  and  closes  with  the  Victimae  Paschali.4 

A  most  notable  fusion  of  the  Latin  with  the  vernacular,  in  this 
case  Provencal,  is  given  by  Wright,6  the  'Mysterium  Fatuarum 
Virginum.'  It  is  of  the  twelfth  century  probably,  though  judged 
by  Raynouard  to  be  of  the  eleventh.  A  comparison  of  the  German 
and  Provencal  plays  will  be  profitable.  Both  begin  in  Latin.  The 
important  and  stereotyped  expressions  in  each  are  in  Latin,  and  in 

i  See  p.  37.  J  See  p.  34.  a  See  p.  3(5.  *  See  p.  36. 

s  Wright,  p.  xiii  and  p.  57. 


0?  TH1 

((UNIVERSlfr! 


28  Charles  Davidson —English  Mystery  Plays. 

each  there  is  an  attempt  to  translate  such  sentences  for  the  people. 
Thus  we  have  in  the  above,  "  Quis  revolvet  nobis  ab  ostio,"  etc., 
followed  by  "Wer  wil  uns  von  diseme  grabe,"  etc.;  "Quern  quaer- 
itis,"  etc.,  with  "  Wen  suchet  ir  dri  vrouwen  ;"  while  in  the  second 
in  Christ's  speech  : 

Amen,  dico,  vos  ignoseo, 

Nam  caretis  lumine, 
Quod  qui  perdunt  procul  pergunt 

Hujus  aula;  limine. 

Alet,  chaitivas!  alet,  malaureas! 

A  tot  jors  mais  vos  so  penas  livreas, 

En  enfern  ora  seret  meneias. 

In  the  former  there  is  a  feeling  that  violent  lamentation  as  lack- 
ing dignity,  and  speech  of  common  things,  can  be  expressed  in  the 
vulgar  tongue;  in  the  second  the  speech  of  inferior  characters,  in 
this  case  the  merchants  and  Gabriel,  is  in  the  vernacular. 


VI. 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  RESURRECTION  PLAY. 

We  will  now  return  to  the  liturgy  and  trace  the  Resurrection 
Play,  but,  as  an  aid  toward  the  better  comprehension  of  its  intimate 
connection  at  first  with  the  church  service,  I  will  cite  somewhat  in 
detail  the  Easter  service1  as  given  in  the  Alemannic  liturgy  in  the 
service  '  In  die  sacro  Resurrectionis  Dominicse,'  omitting  the  first 
part. 

Ad  tertium  psalmum  induit  se  Levita,  qui  primam  Evangelicum  lectionem 
leeturus  est.  Stola  &  Dalmatica,  &  accedens  ad  analogiuni,  in  quo  liber  matuti- 
n.ilis  .si  repositus,  praecedantque  eum  tres  Conversi,  unus  portans  incensum, 
alii  duo  candelabra,  &  stent  iuxta  eum.  Deinde  Diaconus  petat  benedictionem 
dicens,  tube  Domne,  &  pronuntians  Evangelium  secundum  Marcum  dicens: 
Lectio  .v.  Evangelii  secundum  Marcum.  In  i/!<>  tempore  Marin  Magdalena, 
cumque  dixit.  /•;/  reliqua,  tunc  recedant  Conversi  ab  eo,  &  incendant  omnia 
lumina.  Interim  induant  illi  se,  qui  debeut  primum  Responsorium  cantare, 
eappis.  t\  incenseni  principale  Altare  :  venientes  autem  ad  Fratres  in  superior- 
ibus  locis  delient  sedere  usque  in  tineni  lectionis ;  Tune  accipiant  duo  Conversi 
tluiribula  ad  ijisis.  &  offerant  incensum  omnibus,  qui  sunt  in  utroque  choro. 
Posl  Lectionem  incipiani  Angelus  Dominicum  &  aim-Id.  Similiter  faciendum  est 
ad  secundam  i\  tertiam  lectionem  atque  Responsoria.      Qui  secundam  lectionem 

i  Gerbertus,  vol.  2,  pp.  336,  237. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  29 

legit,  debit  remanere  in  sola  Alba  :  Similiter  qui  fcerfciam  legit,  t'aeiat,  excepto 
Abbate,  qui  debet  legere  in  cappa.  Tertium  vero  Responsorium  cantent  tres 
Cantoresin  cappis,  quorum  duo  incensenl  Mtare,  ut  supra  scriptum  est.  R.  Dum 
transissent,  quod  post  Gloria  Patri  reineipiendum  est.  Interim  duo  Sacerdotes 
se  cappis  induunt  summentes  duo  thurilmla.  &  lmmeraria  in  capita  ponent, 
intrantes  chorum.  paulatim  euntes  versus  sepulchrum,  voce  mediocri  cantantes, 
Quis  revolvei  nobis  lapidem.  Quos  Diaconus,  qui  debet  esse  retro  sepulcbrum, 
interroget  psallendo.  Quern  qua&ritis,  deinde  illi,  Iesum  Nazarenum.  Qtiibus 
Diaconus  respondet,  Non  est  hie,  mox  incensent  sepulclirum,1  &  dicente  Dia- 
cono,  Ite,  ,ni, i  tit  tie,  vertent  se  ad  chorum  remanentes  super  gradum,  &  cantent, 
Surrexii  Dominus  tie  sepulchro  usque  in  finem.  Finita  antiphona  Domnus 
Abbas  incipiat  Te  Deum  laudamus  in  medio  ante  Altare,  moxque  campanae 
sonentur  in  angularibus.  Cum  cantatur  Per  singulos  dies  sonentur  omnia  signa 
in  choro. 

This  was  the  service  of  the  fourteenth  century  at  St.  Blasien  in 
the  Black  Forest.2  Martene3  gives  an  Easter  service  in  which  the 
actors  at  the  sepulchre  are  increased  to  four: 

Quorum  onus  alba  indutus  acsi  ad  aliud  agendum  ingrediatur,  atque  latenter 
sepulchri  loeurn  adeat :  ibique,  manu  tenens  palmam  quietus  sedeat. 

This  one  personates  the  angel,  while  the  remaining  three  represent 
the  three  Maries. 

The  twenty-eight  published  Plays  of  the  Resurrection  Milchsack 
has  exploited  so  successfully  as  to  leave  little  work  for  a  successor. 
He  divides  them  according  to  development  into  four  groups,  of  which 
we  will  consider  in  a  somewhat  condensed  form  the  first  and  fourth. 

To  the  first-class  five  plays  are  assigned — 

A.  Einsiedeln  play  of  the  twelfth  century; 

B.  Paris  play  of  the  eleventh  century; 

C.  St.  Martial,  Limoges,  of  the  eleventh  century,  forming  an 
introduction  to  the  Mysteriuni4  Fatuarum  Virginum; 

D.  St.  Blasien  in  Schwarzwalde,  given  above; 

E.  Dunstanus,  Concordia,  published  by  Martene. 

These  plays,  omitting  introductions,  can  be  tabulated  as  follows:6 

Mone  gives  p.  8,  a  cut  of  the  three  Maries  censing  the  sepulchre  and  the  angel ;  the 
sketch  he  found  at  the  beginning  of  the  Good  Friday  choirsongs  in  a  MS.  at  Karlsruhe. 
2  Milchsack,  p.  24,  note.— Milchsack  gives  a  full  bibliography  of  the  published  Latin 
liturgical  plays.  3  Milchsack,  p.  38. 

See  p.  27.  s  Milchsack,  p.  38. 


30 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


A. 

B. 

C. 

D. 

E. 

Einsiedeln  I, 

Paris, 

St.  Martial, 

St.  Blasien, 

Martene, 

XII  Cent. 

XI  Cent. 

XI  Cent. 

XIV  Cent. 

?  Cent. 

angelus  elicit  :        [angeli  :] 


Quem  quaeritis 
in  sepulchro,  o 
christicolae  ? 

mulieres    re- 
spondent : 


Jesum  Nazare- 
nuni2  crucifixum, 
o  coelicola  ! 

angelus  dicit  : 

Non  est  hie, 
surrexit  sicut 
praedixerat : 


Ite,  nuntiate 
quia  surrexit 
de  sepulchro. 


Quis    revolvet 
nobis  lapidem  ? 

quos      DIACONUS, 

[angelus  :]      qui  debet  esse  retro 

sepulchrum    inter- 

roget       psallendo  : 

Quem  quaeritis  ? 


[mulieres  :]     [mulieres  :]        deinde  illi 
[mulieres  :] 


Quo  decantato 
fine  tenus  re- 
spondeat,      hi 

TRES  [MULIE- 

RES] uno  ore  : 


ccelicolse  ! 
[angeli  :] 


ccslicolae  ! 
[angelus  :] 


Jesum  Nazarenum ! 


Quibus  DIACONUS 
resjwndet  : 

Non  est  hie  ! 


Quibus  ILLE 


ipse  dixit ;        praedixerat : 

Mox  incensent 
sepulchrum 
et  dicente 
DIACONO : 
ite,  nuntiate     ite,  nuntiate    ite,  nuntiate. 
quia  surrexit     discipulis 
eius  quia 
praecedet 
vos  in 
Galilaeam. 


surrexit  sicut 
praedixerat  : 


ite,    nuntiate 
quia  surrexit 
a  mortuis. 


Cuius  mis- 
sionis  voce  ver- 
tantse  illi  tres 
ad  chorum  di- 
centes :  Alle- 
luia !  Surrexit 
dominus  ! 


A  and  B  close  hei-e;  C  adds,  "  Vere  surrexit  dominus  de  sepulchro 
cum  gloria.  Alleluia  !"  In  D  the  women  return  to  the  choir  and 
there  sing,  "Surrexit,"  etc.,  and  afterwards  "Te  Deum  laudamus," 


i  Read  ditto  marks  from  left  to  right. 


2  See  p.  27. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


31 


as  given  above.1  In  E  the  people  are  invited8  to  come  and  see  the 
place  where  the  Lord  was  laid.  The  sepulchre  is  found  to  contain 
grave  clothes,  which  are  taken  out  and  shown  to  the  clergy,  who 
forthwith  sing  "  Surrexit,"  etc.  The  linen  is  laid  upon  the  altar, 
and  the  Prior  begins  "  Te  deurn  laudamus." 

An  examination  of  these  plays  seems  to  lead  irresistibly  to  one  of 
two  conclusions;  either  they  spring  from  a  common  source  in  the 
liturgy,  or  they  are  copies,  with  modifications,  of  one  original.  The 
three  possible  sources  in  the  Gospels  are:3 — 


Matth.  28.  5-7. 

5.  Respondens  autern 
angelus  dixit  mulieribus 
Nolite  timere  vos :  scio 
enim  quod  Iesumquicru- 
eifixus  est  quceritis : 

5.  Non  est  hie,  surrexit 
enim  sicut  rfi.vit:  venite 
et  videte  locum  ubi  posi- 
tus  erat  domimis. 

7.  Et  cito  euntes  dicite 
discipulis  eius  quia  sur- 
rexit, et  ecce  prcecedit  vos 
in  Galikeam :  ibi  eum 
videbitis.  Ecce  praedixi 
vobis. 


Mark  16.  6-7. 

6.  Qui  [sc.  angelus]  dicit 
illis  :  Nolite  expavescere  : 
Iesum  quceritis  Nazare- 
num  crucifixum:  surrexit, 
non  est  hie :  ecce  locus  ubi 
posuerunt  eum. 

7.  Sed  ite  dicite  disci- 
pulis eius  et  Petro  quia 
prcecedit  vos  in  Galikeam  : 
ibi  eum  videbitis,  sicut 
dixit  vobis. 


Luke  24.  5-8. 

5.  Cum  timerent  autem 
et  declinarent  vultum  in 
terram,  dixerunt  ad  illas  : 
Quid  quceritis  viventem 
cum  mortuis  ? 

6.  Non  est  hie,  sed  sur- 
rexit :  recordamini  quali- 
ter  locutus  est  vobis,  cum 
adhuc  in  Galilaea  esset. 

7.  Dicens  quia  oportet 
filiuni  hominis  tradi  in 
manus  bominum  pecca- 
torum  et  crucifigi  et  die 
tertia  resurgere. 


The  question  now  arises  as  to  what  part  of  the  service  contained 
the  germ  of  these  earliest  dramas.  Mone4  believes  that  they  sprang 
from  the  responses  and  antiphons,  as  the  most  dramatic  portion  of 
the  liturgy;  Wilken,5  that  they  arose  from  the  first  part  of  the 
Victimae  Paschali  with  the  Responsorium  belonging  thereto,  in- 
fluenced, however,  by  the  Gospel  text.  Milchsack,8  after  a  close 
analysis,  bases  all  the  plays  upon  Matthew  and  Mark.  I  do  not 
know  that  it  would  betoken  any  unaccountable  originality,  if  some 
priest,  thoroughly  f amilar  with  the  Gospel  passages  and  with  the 
Victimae  Paschali  with  its  introductory  verse  and  response,  should 
have  borne  all  in  mind  while  shaping  the  Easter  drama.  If,  as 
Milchsack7  thinks,  we  have  here  actually  the  first  step  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  drama,  it  is  a  sufficiently  serious  departure  from  the 
ritual  to  imply  conscious  authorship  rather  than  the  slow,  uncon- 
scious modification  of  an  existing  custom;    and  this,  as  it   seems  to 


i  See  p.  29.  2  See  p.  27.  =»  Milchsack,  p.  30. 

6  Wilken,  p.  68  fit.  6  Milchsack,  p.  34.  1  Milchsack,  p.  34 


Mone  1,  5. 


32  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

me,  is  an  additional  argument  for  the  author's  resting  his  invention 
upon  all  the  recognized  dramatic  elements,  suitable  for  his  purpose, 
in  the  liturgy.  Furthermore,  this  view  is  reinforced  by  the  fact  that 
the  play  did  not  have  a  fixed  position  in  the  Easter  service,  as  it 
would  have  had  if  developed  from  one  only  of  the  elements  of  the 
service.     Durandus  says,  as  quoted  by  Milchsack  :' 

Quidarn  etiam  faciunt  [sc.  repraesentationem]  ad  missam,  ctim  dicitur  sequentia 
ilia  Victimce  paschali,  cum  dicitur  versus  Die  nobis  et  sequentes. 

These  five  earliest  plays,  to  which  the  one  from  Utrecht  may  be 
added,  are  found  in  Germany  and  France,  and  the  question  of 
independent  derivation  from  the  church  service,  or  of  a  common 
source  in  some  one  earliest  drama,  becomes  a  matter  of  great  inter- 
est. If,  as  Milchsack2  believes,  they  spring  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment directly,  the  fact  that  they  rest  upon  Matthew  and  Mark,  and 
none  of  them  upon  Luke,  distinctively  argues  for  a  single  author. 
When  we  consider  the  many  methods  of  possible  dramatic  develop- 
ment of  the  common  material,  and  note  the  evident  agreement,  it 
seems  difficult  to  dispute  Milchsack's  conclusion3  that  they  sprang 
from  one  form,  the  work  of  one  author.  These  remains  are  not  of 
the  same  date.  There  is  no  lack  of  time  within  which  the  inmates 
of  one  cloister,  proud  of  its  author  and  play,  could  carry  the  drama 
in  memory  or  in  MS.  in  their  visits  to  even  distant  cloisters.  There 
is,  apparently,  no  valid  objection  to  the  theory,  however  reasonable 
an  independent  development  may  seem  to  us. 


VII. 

THE   DEVELOPED   RESURRECTION   PLAY. 

For  comparison  with  the  above  plays  we  will  take  two  plays  of 
Milchsack's  fourth  group.4  Evidences  that  the  redactor  used  Luke 
are  present  in  these  plays,  which  are  the  most  elaborate  of  the  Latin 
Liturgical  plays  of  the  resurrection.  This  group  contains,  according 
to  Milchsack's  classification,  twelve  plays.  We  will  compare  one  of 
Germany  found  in  a  MS.  of  the  thirteenth  century,  at  Einsiedeln  — 
the  entire  text  is  accompanied  by  music  notes6  —  and  one  of  France 
found  in  the  Orleans  MS.  of  the  thirteenth  century.6 


i  Milchsack,  p.  86.  s  Milchsack,  p.  34.  ■  Milchsack,  p.  34. 

•  Milchsack,  p.  64.  =  Mone,  vol.  1,  pp.  15-19.  >'•  Wright,  pp.  32-36. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


33 


Einsiedeln,  XIII  century. 

IN   RESURRECTIONE   DOMINI. 


Ail  risitondum  doniiuivam  sepulturam. 
una  de  mulieribus  cantet  sola  : 

Heu  nobis,  intemas  mentes1 

quanta  pulsant  gemitus 

pro  nostro  consolatore, 

quo  privaniur  inisera3, 

quem  crudelis  Iudseorum 

morti  dedit  populus. 

altera  item  sola  : 
lam  percusso  ceu  pastore, 
oves  errant  miseras  : 
sic,  magistro  decedente, 
turbantur  discipidi, 
atque  nos,  eo  absente, 
dolor  tenet  nimius. 


MARIA    MAGDALENA 

Sed  eamus  et  ad  eius 
properemus  tumulum  ; 
si  dileximus  viventeni,2 
diligamus  mortmain. 


Orleans,  XIII  century. 
Ad  faciendum    similituriinem   dominici 
sepulchri  primum  procedant  tres  fra- 
tres,  prceparati  et  vestiti  in  simieitud- 

INEM    TRIUM    MARIARUM,    pedetentiin     el. 

i/iuisi  tristes  alternantes,  hos  versus  can- 
tantes  : 

prima  earum  dicat  : 
Heu !  pius  pastor  occidit, 
Quem  culpa  nulla  inf ecit ! 
0  res  plangenda  ! 

SECUNDA • 

Heu !  verus  pastor  obiit, 
Qui  vitam  Sanctis  contulit ! 

0  mors  lugenda ! 
tertia  : 
Heu !  nequam  gens  Judaica ! 
Quam  dira  frendens  vesania ! 

Plebs  execranda  ! 
prima  : 
Cur  nece  pium  impia 
Dampnasti  Jhesum  invida  \ 

O  ira  nefanda  ! 

SECENDA  : 
Quid  hiatus  hie  promeruit 
Quod  crucifigi  debuit  ? 
O  gens  dampnanda  ! 

tertia  : 
Heu,  quid  agamus,  miserae, 
Diilci  magistro  orbatae  ? 

Heu  !  sors  lacrymanda  ! 

prima  : 
Eamus  ergo  propere, 
Quod  solum  quimus  facere, 
Mente  devota. 

SECUNDA : 
Condimentis  aromatum 
Ungamus  corpus  sanctissimum  : 
Quo  pretiosa. 

tertia  : 
Nardi  vetet  commixtio, 
Ne  putrescat  in  tumulo 
Caro  beata. 


i  See  p.  25. 


2  See  p.  24. 


34 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


Einsiedeln,  XIII  century. 


Si m  a  I  content  [sc.  mariae  :] 

Quis  revolvet  nobis  lapidem 
ab  ostio  ntonunienti  I1 


angelus : 

Quern  vos  quern  [quaeritis] 
flentes?2 

MULIERES  : 

Nos  Jhesuni  Christum ! 
Item  angelus  : 


Orleans,  XIII  century. 
Cum  autem  venerint  in  chorum,  eant  ad 
monumentum  quasi  qurerentes  et  can- 
tentes  omnes  [sc.  mariae]  simul  hunc 
versum.  Seel  nequimus  hoc  patere  sine 
adiutorio  ;  quisnam  saxum  hoc  revolvet 
ab  monumenti  ostio  ? 
Quibus  respondeat  ANGELUS,  sedens  foris 
ad  caput  sepulchri,  restitus  alba  deau- 
rata,  mitra  tectus  caput,  etsi  deinfu- 
latus,  palmam  in  sinistra,  ramum 
candelarum  plenum  tenens  in  manu 
dextra,  et  dicat  moderata  et  admodum 
gravi  voce  : 

Quein  quaeritis  in  sepulchro,  o 
christicohe  ? 

MULIERES  : 

Jesum  Nazarenum  crucifixum,  o 
ccelicola ! 

Quibus  respondeat  angelus  : 
Quid,    christicola?,     viventem    quaeritis 

cum  mortuis  ? 
Non  est   hie,  sed  snrrexit,  praedixit  ut 

discipulis. 
Mementote  quid  iam  vobis  locutus  est 

Galilaea, 
Qnod    Christum    oportebat   pati,   atque 

die  tertia 

Resurgere  cum  gioria. 

mulieres  rerertentes  content  ad  chorum:3  mulieres  converses  adpopulum  content  : 
Ad  monumentum  venimus  gementes,  Ad  monumentum  domini  venimus  ge- 
angelum  domini  sedentem  vidimus  et  mentes,  angelum  dei  sedentem  vidimus 
dicentem  quia  surrexit  Jhesus.  et  dicentem  quod  surrexit  a  morte. 

Post   hate    maria    magdalena,    relictis 
duabus  aliis,  accedat  ad  sepulchrum,  in 
quod  sape  aspiciens  dicat  : 
Heu  !  dolor !  heu !  quam  dira  doloris  an- 

gustia ! 
Quod  dilecti  sum  orbata  magistri  pr.T?- 

sentia  ; 
Heu !  quis  corpus  tarn  dilectum  sustidit 
e  tumulo  ? 

Deinde  pergat  vclociter  ad  itlos,  qui  in 
similitudine  Petri  et  Johannis  pratstare 
debent  erecti,  stansqtie   ante   eos   quasi 


Non  est  hie  vere  ! 


p.  2G. 


2  See  p.  26 


3  See  p.  27 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  35 

Einsiedeln,  XIII  century.  Orleans,  XIII  century. 

tristis,  cheat  [maria  magdalena:] 

Tulerunt  Dominum  meum, 
Et  nescio  ubi  posuerunt  eum, 
Et  monumentum  vacuum  est  inventum, 
Et  sudarium  cum  sindone  repositum. 
Tlli  autem,  hoc   audientes,  pergant  ad 
sepulcrum  ac  si  currentes,  sed  junior, 
sanctus  Iohannes,  perveniens  stet  extra 
sepulchrum;  senior  xero,  sanctus  Petrus, 
sequens  eum,  statim   intret ;  postquam 
et  Iohannes  intret;  cum  inde  exierint, 
iohannes  dieat  : 
Miranda  sunt,  quae  vidimus  ! 
An  furtim  sublatus  est  dominus. 
Cut  petrus  : 
lino,  ut  praedixit  vivus, 
Surrexit,  credo,  Dominus. 

iohannes : 
Sed  cur  liquit  in  sepulcro 
Sudarium  cum  linteo  ? 

petrus : 
Ista,  quia  resurgenti 
Non  erant  necessaria, 
Imo  resurrectionis 
Eestant  h;ec  indicia. 
Illis  autem   abeuntibus,  accedat  maria 
ad  sepulcrum  et  prius  dicat  : 
Heu !    dolor !    heu !    quam   dira   doloris 

augustia ! 
Quod  dilecti  sum  orbata  magistri  prae- 

sentia ! 
Heu !  Quis  corpus  tam  dilectum  sustulit 

e  tumulo  ? 
Quam  alloquantur  duo  angeli,  sedentes 
infra  sepulcrum,  dicentes : 
Mulier,  qtiid  ploras  ? 
maria  : 
Quia  tulerunt  dominum  meum, 
Et  nescio  ubi  posuerunt  eum. 

ANGELUS : 

Noli  flere,  Maria ;  resurrexit  dominus. 
Alleluia ! 

MARIA  : 

Ardens  est  cor  meum  desiderio 
Videre  dominum  meum ; 
Quaero  et  non  invenio 
Ubi  posuerunt  eum. 
Alleluia  ! 


36 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays 


Einsiedeln,  XIII  century. 
mulieres,  vertentes  se  ad  personam  Petri 
apostoli,  omnes  cantent : 
En  angeli  aspectum  vidimus 
et  responsuni  eius  audivimus, 
qui  testatur  dominum  vivere  ; 
sic  oportet  te,  Symon,  credere. 

MARIA    MAGDALENA    SOla    CCdltct    hoS    frcs 

versus: 

Cum  venissem  ungere  mortuum, 
monumentum  inveni  vacuum  ; 
heu,  nescio  locum  discernere, 
ubi  possim  magistrum  quaerere. 
Dolor  crescit,  treniunt  prsecordia 
de  magistri  pii  absentia, 
qui  sanavit  me  plenam  vitiis 
pulsis  a  me  septem  dtemoniis. 
En  lapis  est  vere  depositus, 
qui  f  uerat  in  signum  positus  ; 
munierant  locum  militibus  : 
locus  vacat,  illis  absentibus. 

chorus : 

Una  [autem]  sabbati  [Maria 

Magdalene  venit  mane,  cum  adhuc 

tenebrse  essent,  ad 

monumentum,  et  vidit  lapidem 

sublatum  a  monumento.] 
Mulieres  reccurrentes  iterum  ad  sepul- 
turam  nichil  dicant.  maria  magda- 
lena  qucerendo  circumquaque  cantet: 
Vietimse  Pascbali1  etc.  usque:  Die 
nobis. 

dominica  persona,  subita  Marios  Mag- 
ilalcmr  (i/iparens,  dicat:- 

Mulier,  quid  ploras  !     quern  quseris  '. 

maria  respondeat : 
Domine,    si    tu   sustulisti    eum,    dicito 
michi,  ubi  posuisti  eum,  quod  ego  eum 
tollam.     Alleluia !     Alleluia ! 


Orleans,  XIII  century. 


Inter itu  veniat  quidam  praeparatus  in 
similitudinem  hortulani,  stansque  ad 
caput  sepulchri  dicat:* 
Mulier.  quid  ploras  ?     quern  quaeris  ? 

maria  : 
Domine,  si  tu  sustulisti  eum,  dicito  mihi, 
ubi  posuisti  eum.  et  ego  eum  tollam. 


DOMINICA   PERSONA    itcrnni  ml  cum  . 
Maria  !     Maria !     Maria ! 

i i.i, a  procidens  dicat: 

Rabbi  !  (quod  dicitur,  Magister). 

i  See  p.  27. 


Et   ILLE 


Maria 


Atque  procidens   ad  pedes   eius   maria 
dicat : 
Rabboni  ! 

2  See  p.  27. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


:;7 


Einsiedeln,  XIII  century. 
dominus  db  ea  paulolum  divertens  dicat  .• 

Noli  metangere;  nondum enim  ascendi 
ad  Patrem  meum.     Alleluia  !    Alleluia  ! 

DOMINICA    PERSONA   sin  its  en  utet  : 

Prima  quidem  suffragia 
stola  tulit  carnalia, 
exbibendo  communia 
se  per  naturae  munia. 
maria  adorans  in   terra  cantet . 
Sancte  deus  ! 

DOMINICA  PERSONA  : 

Hsec  (est)  priori  dissimilis, 

hsec  est  incorruptibilis, 
quae  dum  fait  passibilis, 
iam  non  erit  soltibilis. 
maria  eodem  modo  quo  primus: 

Sancte  fortis. 
DOMINUS  iterum  ibidem  slims  tlicat: 

Ergo  noli  me  tangere, 

nee  ultra  velis  plangere, 

quern  mox  in  puro  sidere 

cernes  ad  patrem  scandere. 
maria,  ut  siipra: 
Sancte  immortalis,  miserere  nobis  ! 
Item  dominus  ad  earn: 

Nunc  ignaros  huius  rei 

fratres  certos  reddes  mei : 

Galilseam,  die,  ut  eant, 

et  me  viventem  videant. 


Orleans,  XIII  century. 
At   11.1. i'.  subtrahat  se,  et  quasi  tactum 

cins  devitans,  dicat: 
Noli  me  tangere  :  nondum  enim  ascendi 
ad  Patrem   meum  ei    Patrem  vestrum, 
Dmiiinmn  meum  et  Dominnm  vestrum. 


Sic    discedat    hortulanus,    maria    vero 

conversa  ad  populum  dicat  : 
Congratulamini  michi  omnes  qui  dili- 
gitis  Dominum,  quia  quern  quserebam 
apparuit  michi  et,  dum  flerem  ad  rnonu- 
mentum,  vidi  Dominum  meum.  Alleluia! 
Tunc  duo  angeli  exeant  ad  ostium 
sepulchri,  ita  ut  appareant  foris,  et 
dicant : 

Venite1  et  videte  locum,  ubi  positus  erat 
dominus.     Alleluia  ! 
Nolite  timere  x<  is  ; 
Vultum  tristem  iam  mutate, 
Iesum   vivum   nuntiate, 
Galilaeam  iam  adite, 
Si  placet  videre,  festinate. 
Cito  euntes  dicite  discipulis,  quod  Sur- 
rexit  Dominus.     Alleluia  ! 


i  See  p.  27. 


38  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Einsiedeln,  XIII  century.  Orleans,  XIII  century. 

Maria,   reliquis   eomitantibus,    ad   cho-    Tunc  mulieres,  discedentes  a  sepulchro, 

rum  sola  dicat :  dicant  ad  plebem  : 

Surrexit  enini,  sicut  [dixit  Dominus,  Surrexit  Doininus  de  sepulchro, 
prgecedit  vos  in  Galilaeam,  alleluia !  ibi  Qui  pro  nobis  pependit  in  ligno. 
enm  videbitis.     Alleluia  !]  Alleluia  ! 

chorus  ad  earn  : 
Die  nobis,  Maria,  [quid  vidisti  in  via  ?] 

ipsa  ad  chorum  : 
Sepulchruin  Cbristi  cum  r.  [sc.  viventis 
et  gloriam  vidi  resurgentis  ;x 
Angelicos  testes,  sudarium  et  vestes  ; 
Surrexit  Cbristus  spes  mea, 
prrecedet  suos  in  Galihea.] 

chorus : 
Credendum  est  [magis  soli  Maria?  veraci, 
quam  Iuda?orum  turbne  fallaci.] 
Scirnus,  Christum  [surrexisse  a  mortuis 

vere; 
tu  nobis,  victor  rex,  miserere  !] 

Item  chorus: 
Currebant  duo  simul  [et  ille  alius  disci- 
pulus  praecucurrit  citius  Petro  et  venit 
primus  ad  monumentum], 
Interea     cum      mulieribus     petrus     et 
iohannes    currant,    et    Iohannes    proe- 

riirrctis  c.rprctel  Petrum,  et  nicliil  inrcn-    Hoc  facto,  expandant  [sc.  MULiEREsJ  sin- 
ientes  revertantur  melodiam  cantantes  :  donem,  dicentes  ad  plebem  : 

Ergo   die    ista   exultemus,     [qua   nobis   Cernite   vos,    socii,    sunt    corporis   ista 
viam  vitne   resurgens   patefecit   Jesus],  beati 

Astra,    solum,    mare    [iocundentur    et   Linea,  qua?  vacuo  iacuere  relicta  sepul- 
euncti  gratulentur  in  coolie.      Spiritales  cro. 

chori  trinitati], 

Postea  ponant  sindonem  super  altare, 
atque  rcrertentes  alternent  hos  versus. 
prima  [sc.  maria  magdalena]  dicat : 
Resurrexit  hodie  Deus  Deorum  ! 

SECUNDA    [MARIA    JACOBl]  ! 

Frustra    signas   lapidem,    plebs    Iuda5- 
orum. 

TERTIA  [MARIA    SALOME]  : 

Iungere  iam  populo  christianorum. 
Item  prima  [maria  magdalena]  dicat: 
Resurrexit  hodie  rex  angelorum. 


i  See  p.  35. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystt  ry  Plays. 


30 


Einsiedeln,  XIII  century. 


chorus  alta  voce: 
Te  Deuui  laudanms  ! 


Orleans,  XIII   century. 

SECUNDA  [MARIA  JACOBl]  : 

Dueitur  de  tenebris  turba  piorum. 

TERTIA   [MARIA  SALOME]  : 

Reseratur  aditus  regni  coelorum  ! 

Interea  is,  qui  ante  fuit  Hortulanus, 
in  similitudinem  Domini  veniat  dalmat- 
icatus  Candida  dalmatiea,  Candida  in- 
fula  infulatus,  phylacteria  pretiosa  in 
capite,  crucem  cum  labaro  in  dextra, 
textum  auro  paratorium  in  sinistra 
habens,  et  dicat  mulieribus  : 
Nolito  timere  vos :  ito,  nunciate  fratri- 
bus  meis,  ut  eant  in  Galilsearn  :  ibi  me 
videbunt,  sicut  praedixi  eis. 

chorus : 
Alleluia,  resurrexit  bodie  dominus  ! 

Quo  finito,  dicant  omnes  [marleJ 
insimul: 

Leo  fortis,  Christus.  films  dei ! 

Et  chorus  dicat  : 

Te  Deuni  laudamus  ! 


We  note  the  following  extensions  in  E  and  O,  as  shown  by  com- 
parison with  Group  I  : 

a.  The  song  during  the  progress  to  the  tomb.     A  song,  but  of  very 

different  character,  introduces  A  only  in  Group  I. 

b.  Situation  of  replying  angel  in  O,  "foris  ad  caput  sepulchri,"1 

while  in  D,  Group  I,  "  debet  esse  retro  sepulchrum." 

c.  In    O,  "Why  do  you  seek  the  living  among  the  dead?" — an 

extension  from  Luke  24.  5. 

d.  In  O,  the  lines  beginning,  "  Mementote,"  etc. 

e.  In  E  and  O,  the  short  song  of  the  women. 

f.  In  O,  the  episode  of  Mary  Magdalene's  lamentation. 

g.  In  O,  the  running  of  Peter  and  John,  their  entering  the  tomb, 

and  the  discussion  of  the  meaning  of  their  discovery.  Note 
that  the  running  in  E  is  out  of  place  and  lacks  dramatic 
motive. 


i  The  position  is  significant.  In  Mont  St.  Michel  it  is  '  super  altare ;'  in  Eouen,  'ante 
sepulchrum;'  in  Sens,  '  Puer,  in  vestitu  angelico  sedens  super  pulpitum  a  cornu  altaris 
sinistro.'  Therefore  in  these  French  plays  is  recorded  the  appearance  of  a  stage  or 
platform  for  the  church  play. 


40  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

h.     In  O,  Mary's  return  and  lamentation. 

i.  In  O,  Mary's  seeing  the  two  angels  in  the  tomb  and  their  con- 
versation. 

j.  In  E,  the  turning  of  the  women  to  Peter,  and  Mary's  song  in 
three  stanzas. 

k.     In  E,  the  use  of  Victimse  Paschali. 

1.      In  E  and  O,  the  appearance  of  the  Savior  to  Mary. 

m.    In  E,  the  Savior's  song. 

n.  In  O,  the  angel's  invitation  to  view  the  sepulchre,  the  display 
of  linen  with,  later,  the  placing  of  it  upon  the  altar. 

o.     In  E,  the  use  of  the  remainder  of  Victimse  Paschali. 

p.     In  E,  the  running  of  Peter,  John,  and  the  women. 

q.     The  chorus  in  E,  the  part  song  in  O. 

r.  In  O,  the  return  of  the  Savior  to  speak  to  the  audience,  at 
which  time  he  speaks  the  part  assigned  to  the  priest  in 
Group  I. 

s.      In  E  and  O,  the  close  with  the  Te  Deuni. 

The  redactor  whose  work  we  have  in  the  Orleans  play  has  sought 
additional  material,  portions  of  points  f,  g,  i,  and  1,  which  has 
greatly  improved  his  play,  in  St.  John,  Chap.  20.  The  author  of 
E  has  drawn  but  little  from  this,  the  most  dramatic  account  of  the 
incident  ;  he  seems,  however,  to  have  found  p  in  Luke  [24.  12], 
which  may  account  for  its  undramatic  position  in  the  play. 

A  comparison  of  E  and  O  reveals  instantly  certain  characteristic 
differences.  Peter  and  John's  dialogue  after  entering  the  tomb, 
included  in  g,  and  Mary  Magdalene's  conversation  with  the  angels, 
point  i,  are  wholly  lacking  in  E.  The  higher  dramatic  character  of 
()  is  evident  not  only  in  points  g  and  i,  since  Mary's  action  in  f  and 
h  is  for  dramatic  effect.  The  part  song  in  a,  the  use  of  the  grave 
clothes  in  n,  and  the  return  of  the  Savior  in  r,  all  improve  the  dra- 
matic quality  of  the  play.  E  as  plainly  shows  a  desire  for  lyrical 
features.  The  song  in  a,  e,  aud  especially  in  j,  together  with  the 
somewhat  cumbersome  device  for  using  the  two  parts  of  the  Vic- 
timse  Paschali,  sufficiently  demonstrate  the  lyrical  tendency.  It 
may  be  added  here  that  the  other  French  plays  of  this  group  agree 
so  closely  with  0  as  to  argue  a  common  origin,  but  the  German, 
while  not  agreeing  so  closely  with  E,  still  show  evidently  the  lyrical 
drift. 

This  Lyrical  tendency  becomes  more  evident  if  we  compare  E 
with  the   Ludus  <le    Xocte  Pasche,1    into  which  the  vernacular  is 

i  See  p.  ~'">. 


Charles  Davidson — T&riglish  Mystery  Plays.  41 

finding  its  way.  The  introductory  song  is  the  same,  but  extended 
in  I,  and  repeated  in  part  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  The  two  angels 
who  greet  the  Maries  in  I  are  evidently  an  innovation  to  render  it 
possible  for  one  to  sing  in  German  the  substance  of  the  Latin  pre- 
viously sung  by  the  two. 

Furthermore,  we  note  that  E  and  1  agree  in  omitting  f,  g,  i,  and 
1,  of  O.  The  divergence  of  the  German  plays  from  the  French  has 
evidently  taken  place,  and  we  have  followed  the  course  of  the  Burial 
and  Resurrection  group  until  we  have  found  the  plays  on  an  inde- 
pendent footing,  shaping  themselves  in  accordance  with  the  national 
spirit,  and  admitting  largely  the  language  of  the  people.  We  will 
now  turn  to  our  second  group,  the  plays  that  cluster  about  the 
infancy  of  Jesus. 


VIII. 

THE    GENESIS    OF    CHRISTMAS. 

The  development  of  the  Christmas  plays  is  so  directly  dependent 
upon  the  genesis  of  Christmas  itself  that  we  must  glance  once  more 
at  the  customs  of  the  early  church. 

The  Syrian  Gnostics  of  the  third  century  celebrated  the  union  of 
God  and  man  as  taking  place  in  Jesus  at  His  baptism,  which  they 
placed  on  Jan.  6th.1  The  orthodox  adopted  this  as  the  feast  of  bap- 
tism, or  of  the  first  appeai'ance  of  the  Godhead  in  man.  St. 
Chrysostom  mentions  it  in  the  fourth  century  as  an  ancient  feast  in 
Asia  of  the  manifestation  of  Christ.2  This  feast  was  celebrated  in 
Vienna  in  360  A.  D.,  and  passed  into  the  western  church  as  Christ's 
manifestation  of  Himself  to  the  heathen  world. 

The  Feast  of  the  Nativity  on  Dec.  25th  was  established  in  Rome 
after  350  A.  D.  by  Bishop  Liberius,3  and  in  the  East  not  earlier  than 
376  A.  D.,  since  Chrysostom  said  in  386  A.  D.  that  the  feast  had 
been  known  less  than  ten  years.  Whether,  as  Neander  thinks,  the 
feast  was  established  in  accordance  with  some  apocryphal  authority, 
or,  as  many  think,  to  supply  a  counter-attraction  to  the  Roman 
Saturnalia,  may  not  be  susceptible  of  proof.  In  any  case  it  became 
heir  to  the  customs  of  the  Saturnalia,  and  continued  them  in 
unbroken  tradition. 

In  pagan  Rome  the  Saturnalia,  because  of  the  confusion  arising 
from  the  adoption  of  the  Julian  calendar,  was  extended  by  Augustus 


i  Wilken,  p.  1.  2  Neander,  vol.  3,  p.  415.  3  Neander,  vol.  3,  p.  41fi. 

Trans.  Conn.  Acad..  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892. 

4 


42  Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 

to  throe  days,  but  was  often  prolonged  by  the  people  to  seven.1  On 
these  days  presents  were  sent  to  friends,  the  children  held  holiday, 
and  slaves  had  the  privileges  of  freemen. 

The  Roman  church  established  the  Nativity  upon  the  Saturnalia, 
and  within  the  following  week  the  Feast  of  St.  Stephen,  Holy  Inno- 
cents' Day,  and  Sunday  within  the  Octave  or  the  first  Advent  Sun- 
day, which  answered  to  the  Roman-heathen  New  Year,  accepting 
from  the  Eastern  church  the  feast  of  the  sixth  of  January  for  the 
Adoration  by  the  Magi.  This  made  the  whole  time  from  Christmas 
day  until  the  Octave  of  Epiphany,  the  seventh  day  after  the  sixth 
of  January,  a  festival  season.  That  in  the  minds  of  the  people  the 
pagan  tradition  was  unbroken  is  proved  by  the  charge  of  the  Mani- 
chean  Faustus2  that  the  Christians  celebrated  the  solstitia  with  the 
pagans,  and  by  the  complaint  of  Leo  the  Great  that  the  Christians 
still  paid  obeisance  from  some  lofty  eminence  to  the  rising  sun. 

These  festivals  passed  directly  into  the  church  of  France — which 
may,  however,  have  received  the  feast  of  Epiphany  from  the  Greeks 
— but  the  church  of  Germany  was  much  slower  in  adopting  them.8 
Advent  was  not  given  among  the  holy  times  by  the  synod  of  Mainz 
in  813  A.  D.,4  and  it  seems  certain  that  it  wTas  not  generally  recognized 
as  a  church  festival  until  late  in  the  ninth  century. 

As  a  result  of  this  later  adoption  of  the  religious  festivities  by  the 
church  of  Germany,  we  find  an  original  difference  of  custom  in  the 
French  and  German  churches  regarding  Christmas,  instead  of  that 
striking  similarity  exhibited  by  the  Resurrection  plays.  With  both 
the  plays  sprang  from  the  same  source,  the  church  ritual,  but  they 
held  from  the  first  a  different  relation  to  the  church  festival  days, 
and  received  at  an  early  date  the  stamp  of  the  national  life  and 
customs. 

France,  like  Italy,  probably  enjoyed  from  the  first  an  uninterrupted 
succession  ol  the  Roman  comedy  as  performed  by  jugglers,  mimes,  and 
comic  actors.5     The  pagan  festivities  of  the  Saturnalia  were,  it  would 

i  Neander,  vol.  3,  p.  419. 

2  Neander,  vol.  3,  p.  420,  quotes  Augustine  1.  20,  c.  Faustus. 

3  Neander,  vol.  3,  p.  420,  quotes  Leo,  p.  26,  c.  4. 
■I  Weinhold,  \>.  it. 

5a.  It  is  said  that  Louis  le  Debonnaire  (778-840)  never  laughed  when  thymelici,  surrae, 
mind,  came  forward  to  amuse  the  people  at  festivals.    Hase,  210. 

b.  Thomas  Aquinas,  Summa  ii, .'.',  qu.  168,  art.  '■'<,  as  referred  to  by  Hase,  expounds  the 
office  of  a  player  as  being  serviceable  tor  the  enlivenment  of  men,  and  as  not  blame- 
worthy if  the  players  load  an  Upright  life. 

o.  Sod  forte  perconteris:  fueruut-ne  Saeculis  barbaricis  inter  publicos  Ludos  Tragoe- 
dise,  am  saltern  Comoedise?  Equidem  In  remotis Saeculis  nullum  apertum hujusce  rei 
vestigium  hactenus  offendi.      Post  Sseculum  vero  a  Christo  nato  Undecimum  aliquidj 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  43 

appear,  transported  to  the  colonies  in  France.  At  any  rate  the 
religious  festivities  of  the  holiday  season  in  the  Roman  church  were 
so  closely  copied  in  France  as  to  argue  a  similar  preparation  through 
the  existing  customs  of  the  people.  The  rural  unformed  comedy, 
continuing  among  the  people  simultaneously  with  these  ecclesiastical 
festivities,  naturally  drew  nearer  to  them  as  they  became  more 
dramatic  in  character,  and  imparted  to  them  color  and  license 
wherever  entrance  could  be  obtained.  This  was  the  easier  to  accom- 
plish, since  both  wrere  the  expression  of  joy  and  gaiety. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  less  strange  that  the  feast  of  St.  Stephen, 
which  was  under  the  charge  of  the  young  deacons,  or  the  Day  of 
the  Holy  Innocents,  which  belonged  to  the  choir  boys,  should  more 
and  more  incline  to  the  buffoonery  of  the  holiday  time  until  it 
became  the  reproach  of  the  church.  That  these  and  the  custom  of 
the  Boy  Bishop  and  the  Feast  of  the  Ass  were  originally  devotional 
in  character,  and  that  their  degeneration  took  place  through  outside 
influences  and  in  spite  of  the  church,  are  easy  to  prove.  In  the 
Limoges  ritual  we  find  the  Feast  of  the  Innocents  in  the  days  of  its 
innocence,  and  the  Boy  Bishop,  when  he  first  appears  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  Freising  play  of  the  Nativity,1  is  a  very  proper 
person. 

The  course  of  development  of  the  Feast  of  the  Ass  demonstrates 
from  another  side  the  intimate  connection  of  all  Mystery  plays  with 
the  church  services,  and  the  impossibility  of  attributing  the  rise  of 
every  play  to  any  one  portion  of  the  service.  In  the  Middle  Ages  a 
reputed  sermon  of  St.  Augustine  formed  one  of  the  lessons  of 
Christmas.2  It  was  not  delivered  as  a  sermon,  but  declaimed  as  a 
species  of  dramatic  chant,  and  was  very  popular.  It  cited  all  the 
Old  Testament  witnesses  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  together  with 
Virgil,  the  Sibyl,  and  such  others  as  were  believed  to  have  foretold 
the  Savior's  advent.  It  was  highly  dramatic  in  form,  summoning  each 
witness  to  give  his  testimony  ;  thus  it  was  but  a  step  forward  when 
persons  differently  habited  gave  the  responses.  This  literary  idea 
found  epic  expression  in  the  Old  English  Elene3  as  early  as  the  ninth 
century,  and  dramatic  form  in  The  Prophets  of  Christ  of  the  twelfth 
century,  as  appended  to  the  Drama  of  the  Foolish  Virgins  in  the 


inveni ;  quamquam  in  ea  opinione  sim,  nunquam  ita  excidisse  veterum  Latinorum  His- 

trionicam  Arteni,  ut  abolita  prorsus  fuerit  apud  Italos  ejus  memoria  atque  usus 

Arbitror  etiam,  aliquid  inconditae  Comoediaj  semper  fuisse  Italis Muratori  Anti- 

quitates,  vol.  2,  col.  847. 

d.  Julleville,  les  Comediens  en  France  au  Moyen  Age,  p.  17. 

i  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  42.  2  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p,  35.  3  Cynewulf's  Elene,  1.  337  tf. 


44  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Orleans  MS.1  Among  these  prophets  Balaam  is  often  introduced 
riding  upon  his  ass,  as  in  the  Rouen  ritual.2  Since  each  prophet 
gave  his  testimony,  it  was  easy,  by  adding  adventitious  circum- 
stances, to  develop  his  part  into  a  separate  scene,  and  what  was  more 
natural  than  for  the  ass  to  speak  as  in  the  Bible  narrative  ?  Here 
comedy  stepped  in,  and  when  the  transition  from  scene  to  inde- 
pendent play  was  made,  as  we  see  in  the  Daniel  of  Hilarius,  of 
the  twelfth  century,  and  the  Daniel  of  Beauvais,  which  joins  the 
vernacular  with  the  Latin  tongue,  the  Feast  named  from  the  ass, 
now  become  more  prominent  than  its  rider  Balaam,  begins  its 
unsacerdotal  course,  to  the  horror  of  the  devout.3 

We  cannot  tarry  longer  on  this  most  interesting  subject,  except 
to  note  that  these  customs,  transported  to  England  by  French 
ecclesiastics,  either  quickly  lost  or  never  acquired  the  reckless  pro- 
fanity of  the  French  customs.  The  moral  sobriety  of  the  English 
mind  makes  it  averse  to  religious  frivolity.  The  Boy  Bishop 
became  an  illustrious  example  of  the  good  boy;4  otherwise  Dean 
Colet  would  hardly  have  required  the  boys  of  St.  Paul's  schooP  to 
attend  the  ministrations  of  the  child  bishop  in  St.  Paul's.8 

As  we  turn  now  to  Germany  a  very  different  situation  unfolds 
itself.  The  pagan  Roman  beliefs  never  superseded  the  heathen 
beliefs  of  the  Teutonic  peoples.  The  early  customs  of  all  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  Germanic  race  have  proved  wonderfully  tenacious  of  life, 
and  the  church  in  Germany  found  itself  obliged  to  tolerate  much, 
though  less  in  the  South  than  in  the  North. 

During  the  centuries  before  the  church  of  Germany  adopted  the 
church  festival  of  Christmas,  it  had  accustomed  itself  to  the  holiday 
festivities  of  the  people.  The  Jul-fire  burned  in  the  homes  of  Ger- 
many, Sweden,  and  Norway  like  the  Yule  log  in  the  English  home. 
The  Schirnmelreiter,  on  his  steed  covered  with  white,  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  Wodan,7  rode  among  the  holiday  makers,  as  did  his  kin  of  the 

i  Wright,  p.  30. 

s  Du  Cange,  Festum  Asinorum:  Duo  missi  a  Kege  Balec  dicant,  Balaam,  veni  ei  fae. 
Tunc  Balaam  ornatus,  sedens  super  asinam  (Mnc  festo  nomen),  habens  calcaria,  reti- 
riiiii  [ora,  el  calcaribus  percutiat  asinam,  et  quidam  juvenis,  tenens  gladium,  obstet 
asinee.    Quidam  sub  asina  dicai  :  Ou/r  me  calcaribus  miseram  sic  IcBditfe? 

a  For  thr  genesis  of  the  'sottie'  and  ■sermon  joyeux'  from  the  Fete  des  Fous,  see 
Julleville,  Lea  Comediens  on  France  au  Moyen  Age,  p.  3~'  ff. 

i  Thai  he  sometimes  died  young  was  proved  by  the  discovery  of  the  monument  of  a 
Boy  BiPhop  at  Salisbury.     Hone,  196. 

In  the  statutes  of  St.  Paul's  school,  founded  1512,  Dean  Colet  orders  the  scholars  to 
"come  to  Paulia  Churche  and  hearthe  Chylde-Byshop's  sermon ;  and  after  lie  at  the 
hygh  masse,  and  each  of  them  offer  a  penny  to  the  Chylde-Byshop."— Hone,  p.  198. 

«  The  entire  subject  of  comedy  in  the  early  Middle  Ages,  and  its  development  in  the 
church  of  France,  demands  an  independent  investigation. 

■  Haupt's  Zeitschrift,  rol.5,  p.  172,  art.  Wodan,  by  Kulm. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  45 

hobby-horse  in  the  halls  of  old  England.  Many  other  customs 
derived  from  the  old  faith  still  held  the  hearts  of  the  German  peo- 
ple, and  were  incorporated  into  or  modified  the  later  celebration  of 
Christmas.  As  one  result  of  these  customs,  the  church  festivities 
naturally  fell  in  with  the  holiday  temper  of  the  season,  grew  rapidly 
in  popularity,  and  quickly  passed  more  or  less  into  the  hands  of  the 
people.  The  Christ-child  made  the  visits  from  house  to  house  in 
company  with  Ruprecht,  Fran  Mary  rocked  his  cradle  in  the  drama, 
and  Goodman  Joseph  lent  a  willing  hand.1 

We  cannot  stop  now  to  consider  the  Christmas  songs  and  carols 
in  their  bearing  upon  the  drama,  or  to  trace  the  growth  of  folk- 
humor  and  devil-play  within  the  dramas  themselves,  all  of  which 
bear  testimonj^  to  the  heartiness  with  which  the  common  people 
adopted  these  holiday  plays,  and  the  extent  to  which  they  made 
them  the  vehicle  of  their  own  humor  and  the  expression  of  their 
rough,  hearty  good  nature.  After  a  similar  fashion  the  York  and 
Woodkirk  plays  of  England  embody  the  folk  spirit  of  Yorkshire. 
A  comparison  of  plays  so  kindred  in  spirit,  but  wholly  unconnected 
in  literary  development,  would  prove  an  instructive  study  in  racial 
characteristics. 


Thus  in  a  play  given  by  Weinhoid  we  read,  p. 


Ach  Joseph  lieber,  Joseph  mein, 
wiege  mir  das  kleine  Kindelein. 

JOSEPH  : 

Kindla  wiega,  Kindla  wiega  ! 

Ich  koan  nich  menne  Finger  biega ! 

Hunni  sausi, 

der  Kitsche  thut  der  Bauch  wih  ! 

alle  singen  : 
Lasst  uns  das  Kindlein  wiegen, 
das  in  dem  Kripplein  thut  liegen. 
O  Jesulein  suss,  o  Jesulein  siiss. 

Lasst  uns  das  Kindlein  speisen, 
Ibm  grossen  Dank  erweisen. 

O  Jesulein  siiss,  o  Jesulein  sliss. 
Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo. 


46  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

IX. 
THE    GROWTH    OF    THE    CHRISTMAS    CYCLE. 

We  will  now  consider,  but  briefly,  since  the  process  of  develop- 
ment is  similar  to  that  of  the  Resurrection  plays,  the  growth  of  the 
dramas  of  the  star  or  Magi,  and  that  of  the  shepherds,  within  the 
liturgy  of  the  church  itself. 

In  the  first  place  we  note  that  the  signs  of  their  presence  are  even 
less  evident  in  the  York  Missal  than  were  those  of  the  Resurrection 
Plays.  In  the  service  for  Epiphany,  in  the  Sequence  for  the  second 
day,  appears  the  following  : 

Thure  Deum  predicant,  auro  regem  magnum,  hominem  mortalem  myrrha. 
In  sonmis  hos  monet  angelus,  ne  redeant  ad  regem  commotum  propter  regna. 
Pavebat  etenim  nimium  regem  natuni,  verens  amittere  regni  jura. 

For  the  third  day  : 

Magi  sibi  stella  micante  pra?via  pergunt  alacres  itinera  patriam  quse  eos  ducebant 

ad  propriam  ;  linquentes  Herodis  mandata. 
Qui  percussus  corde  nimia  prae  ira  extemplo  mandat  infantium  agmina  inquiri 

Bethlehem  per  confmia,  et  mox  privari  eos  vita. 1 

These  cannot,  perhaps,  be  considered  sure  traces  of  the  drama, 
but  in  the  rubrics  of  MS.  D.  for  Christmas  occur  these  significant 
words,  which  are  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  Missal  : 

Ad  Missam  in  Gallicantu  : — 

Paratus  interim  festive  Decanus  vel  Praecentor  seu  aliquis  de  majoribus  personis 
procedat  ad  Altare  cum  suis  Ministris  etiam  festive  indutis.  Peractisque 
ibidem  omnibus  quae  juxta  morem  dicenda  vel  facienda  sunt,  incipiat  Executor 
officii  ad  Altare  Gloria  in  excelsis  cum  nota  de  angelis.2 

In  die  Nativitatis  Domini.  Ad  Magnam  Missam.  Interim  Praslatus  vel  Decanus 
sive  unus  de  majoribus  dignitatibus  cum  suis  Ministris  exeat  ad  Altare.  Et 
peraclis  omnibus  ibidem,  quae  peragenda  sunt,  incipiat  Sacerdos  orationem.3 

These  comprise,  I  think,  all  the  passages  in  the  York  Missal  that 
have  any  bearing  upon  the  plays. 

We  have  no  means  of  determining  how  elaborate  these  dramas 
Avere  to  which  the  York  Missal  refers.  As  they  were  kept  out  of  the 
Missal  itself,  it  is  probable  that  they  were  re-written,  expanded,  or 
otherwise  changed,  as  the  fancy  of  succeeding  generations  of 
monks  might  suggest. 

Of  the  continental  plays  several  specimens  are  extant,  and  the 
literary  relations  in  the  Catholic  church  were,  at  that  time,  so  close 
throughout  the  West,  that  the  plays  of  one  cathedral  church  did  not 


York  Missal,  p.  32.  J  York  Missal,  p.  11.  3  York  Missal,  p.  18. 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays.  4  7 

differ  essentially  from  those  of  another.  That  we  may  see,  how- 
ever, what  this  difference  was.  as  well  as  learn  something  of  the 
character  of  the  plays  themselves,  I  give  three  extended  plays 
which  include  the  Office  of  the  Shepherds  and  that  of  the  Magi. 

Of  these  plays,  the  first,  the  Rouen  Play,  still  held  its  place  in  the 
service,  and  was,  therefore,  acted  as  two  plays,  the  Office  of  the 
Shepherds  falling  on  Christmas  day,  and  that  of  the  Magi  on  Epi- 
phany (Jan.  6th).  The  third,  the  Orleans  Play,  had  passed  out  of 
the  church,  and  was  played  "  ad  januas  monasterii."  It  shows  a 
fusion  of  the  two  plays,  as  does  also  that  of  Freising.  The  play  is 
no  longer  a  part  of  the  church  service  ;  therefore  there  is  no  proces- 
sion, as  in  the  Rouen  Play.  The  excision  of  the  procession 
suggested  a  use  for  the  separate  play  of  the  Magi ;  it  was  inserted 
in  the  place  of  the  procession. 

The  Orleans  Play  affords  us  a  view  of  a  first  step  in  cyclic  for- 
mation. But  tins  method  of  insertion  could  find  but  a  limited  field 
of  operation,  since  the  earliest  plays  did  not  dramatize  some  world- 
epic,  thus  affording  a  framework  for  numberless  insertions,  but  were 
illustrative  of  some  single  motive  contained  in  the  liturgy. 

How  the  Resurrection  Cycle  was  joined  to  the  Christmas  Cycle, 
and  how  the  resulting  cycle  of  Christ's  life  was,  through  the  aid  of 
the  prophecies,  extended  back  to  the  creation  of  the  world,  will  be 
considered  in  the  following  chapters. 

Our  concern,  at  present,  is  with  the  methods  employed  for  com- 
bining the  Play  of  the  Shepherds  with  that  of  the  Magi,  i.  e.,  with 
the  formation  of  the  Christmas  Cycle  itself.  Here  the  Freising  Play 
is  of  value  as  illustrating  the  uniform  tradition  throughout  the 
churches,  for  it  is  certain  that  the  Freising  is  not  immediately 
derived  from  the  Orleans,  nor  the  Orleans  from  the  Freising. 
Neither  was  the  Freising  play  formed  from  the  Rouen,  though 
possibly  the  Orleans  play  may  have  been. 

These  positions  are  supported  by  many  proofs.  The  most  evi- 
dent, as  regards  the  Freising,  is  the  absence  of  the  Adoration  by  the 
Shepherds.  This  shepherd  episode  in  F  would  seem  to  point  to  an 
early  liturgical  form  for  model.  The  angel  makes  the  announce- 
ment ;  the  shepherds  say,  Let  us  go  ;  the  Magi  meet  them  returning, 
and  they  announce  that  they  have  seen  the  child.  The  dramatic 
situation  involved  in  the  adoration  is  entirely  omitted.  This  is  the 
case  also  in  the  Nantes  and  Laon  rituals. 

Elsewhere  in  the  development  of  dramatic  incident,  F,  R  and  O 
do  not  asrree.     In  the  first  recognition  of  the  star  F  agrees  with  R, 


48  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

and  gives  a  more  dramatic  form  than  that  of  O,  since  in  O  the  Third 
Magus  is  silent.  This  is  one  point  in  evidence  that  O,  if  derived 
from  R,  must  he  derived  from  an  older  form  of  R.  The  kiss  of 
peace  is  found  in  O  alone.  The  Herod  episodes  in  F  and  O  show 
such  striking  agreement  in  parts  as  to  preclude  the  supposition  of 
absolutely  independent  construction  ;  still  there  are  such  transposi- 
tions and  developments  of  detail  as  render  it  equally  incredible  that 
either  was  taken  directly  from  the  other. 

It  would  cany  me  too  far  from  the  direct  course  of  this  investiga- 
tion to  trace  these  developments  to  their  sources,  if,  indeed,  it 
would  prove  possible  with  the  material  extant.  It  may  be  profitable 
to  state  briefly  the  characteristics  here  presented,  and  leave  it  for 
others  to  modify  the  statements  through  comparison  with  other  plays.1 

1.  The  Herod  play  in  F  and  in  O  is  developed  from  a  common 
original. 

2.  The  Herod  play  was  introduced  to  supersede  the  procession, 
possibly  because  the  play  was  taken  out  of  the  service  in  obedience 
to  some  reforming  impulse,  and  played,  like  the  Orleans  play,  "  ad 
januas  monasterii." 

3.  Herod  has  already  his  conventional  anger  and  brusqueness,  but 
not  his  later  bombast. 

4.  The  son's  part  is  defined  in  O,  and  the  action  of  the  scribes  in 
both  F  and  O. 

5.  F  plainly  points  to  the  succeeding  play  of  the  Slaughter  of  the 
Innocents,  yet  strangely  enough  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  soldier 
in  n  Discerne,  domine,"  the  words  of  the  Interfectio  Puerorum  of  the 
Orleans  MS.  instead  of  those  of  the  Ordo  Rachelis,  though  the  Ordo 
Rachelis  appears  to  belong  to  the  same  section  as  F. 

6.  The  King  uses  in  all  three  plays,  viz  :  F,  Interfectio  Puerorum, 
and  Ordo  Rachelis,  the  much-mentioned  Sallust  tag,  "  Incendium 
meum  ruina  extinguam." 

Many  minor  points  of  interest  will  be  briefly  indicated  in  the 
notes  accompanying  the  plays.  I  cannot  refrain,  in  passing,  from 
the  remark  that  an  investigation  confined  to  the  steps  of  develop- 
ment and  relationship  among  the  early  plays  of  the  Christmas  time 
would  probably  yield  rich  results,  if  all  the  extant  material  were  at 
command. 


i  Important  agreements  with  F  and  0  are  shown  by  a  play  upon  the  same  subject  in 
Carolina  Burana,  Stuttgart,  1847  ;  cp.  Weinhold,  p.  57. 


THE    ROUEN,    FREISING    AND    ORLEANS 


CHRISTMAS    PLAYS. 


50  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Rouen,'   XIV  Century.  Freising,-  X  Century. 

Finito  Te  Deum  laudainus,  peragatur 
Omciuni  Pastoruin  hoc  modo  secundum 
Rothomagensem  wsum.  Prcesepe  sit  pa- 
ratwm   retro  altare,  et  imago  S.  Marice    Ascendant  rex  et  sedeat  in  solio,*  au- 

sit    in    eo    posita.     In    primis   quidam    diat  sententiam5 querat 

puer  ante  chorum  in  excelso  in  simili-  consilium,  exeat  edictum  ut  pereant 
tudinem  Angeli  Nativitatem  Domini  continuo  qui  detrahunt  ejus  imperio. 
annuntians  ad  quinque  Canonicos  quin- 
decim  marcharum  et  librarum,  vel  ad 
eorum  vicarios  de  secunda  sede,  pas- 
tores  intr antes,  per  magnum  ostium 
chori,  per  medium  chorum  transeuntes, 
tunicis  et  amictis  indutos,  hunc  versum 

ita  dicens  :  angelus6  inqv.it  imprimis: 

Nolite    timere,    ecce    enim    evangelizo 

vobis  gaudium  lnaguurn  quod  erit  omni    Pastores,  annuntio  vobis  gaudium  mag- 
populo,  quia  natus  est  vobis  bodie  Sal-    num. 
vator,  qui  est  Cbristus  Domini,  in  civi- 

tate    David.      Et    boc   vobis    signum :  pastores  : 

invenietis  infantem  pannis  involutum,    Transeanius  Betbleem  xit  videamus  boc 
et  positum  in  pra?sepio.  verbuni. 

Sint  plures  pueri6   in  voltis  Ecclesice, 

quasi  Angeli,  qui  alia  voce  incipiant :  angelus  : 

Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo,  et  in  terra  pax    Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo,  et  in  terra  pax 
bominibus  bona?  voluntatis.  boniinibus  bone  voluntatis. 

Hcec  audientes  pastores,  ad  locum  in 
quo  paratum  est  prcesepe,  accedant  can- 
tantes  hunc  versum  : 

Pax  in  terris,8  etc. 


Quod  dum  intraverint,  duo  presbyteri9 
dalmaticati  de  majori  sede,  quasi  ob- 
stetrices,  qui  ad  prcesepe  fuerint,  dicant: 
Quern  qmvritis  in  pr.i-sepe,  pastores  ? 
Dicite. 

pastores10  respondeant  : 
Salvatorem  Cbristum  Dominum  ; 
Infantem   pannis   involutum, 
Secundum  sermonem  angelicum. 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Playi 


51 


Orleans,'  XII  Century. 

SIVE       MAGORUM      ADORATIO. 

Tncipit  imio  ad   reprcesentandum    Her- 

odem. 

Parato  Merode  et  cceteris  personis,4  tunc 

QUIDAM     ANGELUS     CWHtl    multitudine     in 

excelsis  appareat. 


i  From    Du  Cange— Pastorum   Officiwm 
amplified  from  Welnhold  and  Du  Meril. 

2  Prom  Weinhold  and  Du  Meril. 

3  From  Wright,  p.  23. 

*  See  discussion  of  manner  of  presenta- 
tion. 
s  In  many  places  illegible. 


Quo  viso  pastores  perterriti,  salutem 
annunciet  eis,  de  cceteris  adhuc  tacen- 
tibus : 

Nolite  tirnere  vos,  ecce  enim  euvange- 
lizo  vobis  gaudium  magnum,  quod  erit 
omni  populo,  quia  natus  nobis  hodie 
Salvator  Mundi,  in  civitate  David,  et 
hoc  vobis  signum  :  invenietis  infantem 
pannis  involutum  et  positum  in  prae- 
sepio,  in  medio  duum  animalium. 
Et  subito  OMNIS  MULTITUDO-'  cum  An- 
gel o  dicat  : 

Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo,  et  in  terra  pax 
bominibus  bona?  voluntatis.  Alleluia  ! 
Alleluia  ! 

Tunc  demum  surgentes  cantent  intra  se  : 
Transeamus,  etc.,  et  sic  procedant 
usque  ad  prazsepe,"  quod  ad  januas 
monaster ii  paratum  erit: 
Transeamus  usque  Betbleem,  ut  videa- 
mus  hoc  Verbum  quod  factum  est,  quod 
fecit  Dominus  et  ostendit  nobis. 


s  The  original  actors  were  boys,  as  per  R. 


7  In  O,  cradle  at, the  monastery  g-ate ;  in 
R,  behind  the  altar. 

s  The  five  stanzas  are  given  by  Du  Meril, 
p.  146. 


Tunc  hum  mulieres-'  custodientes  praz- 
sepe  interrogent  pastores,  dicentes  : 

Quern  quaeritis,  pastores,  dicite  ? 


9  Presbyters  personated  women.  At  Nan- 
tes the  Cantor  asks  the  question  ;  at  Laon 
the  Cantor  and  Subcantor. 


pastores"1  respondeant  : 
Salvatorem  Christum  dominum  ; 
Infantum  pannis  involutum, 
Secundum  sermonem  angelicum. 


io  Priests  at  Laon,  boys  at  Nantes,  who 
use  the  words  in  which  the  shepherds  reply 
to  the  Magi  in  F.  The  adoration  is  omitted 
at  Laon  and  Nantes. 


52 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 


Rouen,  XIV  Century.  Freising,  X  Century. 

Item  obstetrices  cortinam  aperiemtes, 
Puerum  demonstrent,  dicentes: 

Adest  hie   parvulus   cum  Maria  matre 

sua,  de  qua  duduui  vaticinando  Isaias 

dixerat  propheta. 

Hie  ostendant  matrem1  pueri,  dicentes: 

Eece  Virgo  concipiet  et   pariet   filiuin, 

et  nunc  euntes  dicite  quia  natus  est. 

Tunc,  eo  viso,  inclinatis  eervicibus  ador- 

ent  Puerum,  et  salutent,  dicentes: 

Salve  Virgo-  singularis,3  etc. 

Deinde  vertant  se  ad  eh  ovum  redeuntes, 

et  dicentes  :4 

Alleluia,  Alleluia,  jam  vere  scimus 
Christum   natum    in    terris :      de    quo 

canite  omnes,  cum  Propheta  dicentes. 
Hoc  finito,  incipiatur  Missa,*  et  pas- 
tores   regant   chorum.      Dom.   Archie- 

piscopus,  si  prcesens  fuerit,  cantet  Mis- 
sam. 

This  ends  the  Eouen  Pastorum  Offi- 
cium  for  Christmas. 

Officium  Begum  Trium.  secundum  usum 
Rotomag.  Die  Epip>hanice,  Tertia  can- 
tata, tres  de  majori,  sede  more  Regum 
induti,  et  debent  esse  scripti  in  tabula. 
Ex  tribus  partibus  ante  altare  eonven- 
iant  cum  suis  famulis  portantibus  Re- 
gum  oblationes,  induti  tunicis  et  amictis. 
Et  debent  esse  de.  secunda  sede  scripti  in 
tabula  ad  placitum  scriptoris.  Ex  tri- 
bus Regibus  medius  ab  oriente  veniens, 

stellam  cum  baculo  ostendens,  dicat  alte :  magus  primus  : 

Stella  fulgore  nimio  rutilat.  Stella  fulgore  nimio  rutilat. 

secundus  rex  a  dextrajmrte  respondeat:  secundus  : 

Qtue  Regem  Eegum  natum  demonstrat.    Que  regem  regum  natum  monstrat. 

tertius  rex  a,  sinistra  parte  dicat :  tertius  : 

Quern  venturum  olim  prophetia?  signa-    Quein  venturum  olim  prophetie  signa- 
verant.  verant. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


53 


Orleans,  XII  Century. 
mulieres  : 
Aflest  parvulus,  cum  Maria  matre  ejus, 
de  quo  dudum  vaticinando  Ysaias  pro- 
pheta  dixerat  :  Ecce  virgo  concipiei   el 
parii't  nlium. 


i  The  image  of  Mary,  a  special  develop- 
ment ol'  K. 


tunc  pa  stores  pvocedentes  adorent  in- 
fantem  dieentes : 
Salve  rex  sseculorum  ! 
Postea  surgentes  invitent  populum,  cir- 
cumstantes,   ml   adorandum    infantem, 
dieentes  turbis  oicinis  : 
Venite,    venite,    adoremtis    Dominum, 
quia  ipse  est  Salvator  noster. 


2  Note  the  greater  prominence  given  to 
the  Virgin  in  K. 

3  The  two  stanzas  are  given  by  Du  Meril, 
p.  150. 

•i  Note  that  the  closing  of  R  at  this  point 
leads  to  an  important  variation. 

5  These  words  prove  that  the  Office  of 
the  Shepherds  immediately  preceded  the 
Mass  of  the  Day,  for  which  the  Introit  was 
Isaiah  9.  6.— Du  Meril,  p.  150. 


Interim    magi,  prodeuntes6  quisque   de 
angulo  sm>,  quasi  </<•  regione  sua,  con- 
veniant  ante  altare,  oel  ad  curium  stellos, 
ff  dum  appropinquant  primus  dicat: 
Stella  fulgore  nimis  rutilat. 

secundus : 
Qtiein  venturum  olim   propheta   signa- 
verat. 

7'cm-  stantes  collaterales,  di<-<it  dexter 
ad  medium.-  Pax  tibi  f  rater ;  et  ille 
resj>ondeat :  Pax  quoque  tibi ;  et  oscu- 
lentur  sese:  sic  medius  ml  sinistrum,  sic 
sinister  ad  dextrum.     s<i/>if<tli<>  cuique. 

DEXTER  ad  medium  : 
Pax  tibi,  f rater  ! 


8  In  O,  the  people  are  watching  the  ci-a- 
dle  when  the  Magi  enter  unobserved.  The 
Limoges  l'itual  introduces  them  with  pomp. 


.4  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Rouen,    XIV    Century.  Freising,    X    Century. 


Tunc  magi  ante  altare  sese  osculentur, 

et  simul  cantent: 

Eamus1  ergo,  et  inquiramus  enm,  offer- 

entes    ei    inunera ;     aurum, 

mirrham. 

Hoc  finito,   cantor   incipiat   Besponso 


SIMUL  cantent  : 
Eamus"  ergo  et  inquiramus  eum,  offer- 
thus,     et    entes     ei     munera :     aurum,    thus,    et 
mirram. 


Dieite  ;  nobis,  0  Hierosolymitani  cives, 
ubi  est  exspectatio  gentium,  noviter 
natus  rex  Judeomm,  quern  signis  celes- 
tibus  agnitum  venimus  adorare  ? 


Magi  veniunt,5  etc 

Et  moveat  processio.3 

\~itsiis  : 

Cum  natus  esset  Jesus  in  Bethleem 
Judae,  in  diebus  Herodis  regis,  ecce 
Magi  ab  Oriente  venerunt  Jerosolymam, 
dicentes  :  Ubi  est  qui  natus  est  ?  Cujus 
stellam  vidimus,  et  venimus  adorare 
Dominium 
Sequatur   aliud   Responsorium,    si   nec- 

esse  fuerit  : 
Interrogabat  Magos,4  etc. 

INTERNUNCIOS5  tUVTenS  ! 

Salve,  rex  Judeorum  ! 
rex: 
Quid  rumoris  affers  ? 

INTERNUNCIUS  :6 

Assuut  nobis,  domine,  tres  viri  ignoti 
Processio  in  navi  Ecclesice  constituta,  ab  oriente  venientes,  noviter  natum 
slationem  faciat.  regem  quendam  querentes. 

rex  : 
Que  sit  causa  vere,  jamjaui  citus,  im- 
pero,  quere. 

internuncius  ad  Magos : 
Que  rerum  novitas  aut  que  vos:  causa 

subegit 
Ignotas   temptare   vias  3      quo   tenditis 

ergo  ' 
Quod  genus  ?  unde  domo  ?  pacemne  hiic 
fertis  an  arma  ? 

magi  : 
Chaldei  sumus,  pacem  ferimus, 
Eegem  regum  querimus, 
Quem  natum  esse  stella  indicat 
Que  fulgore  ceteris  clarior  ratilat. 


Charles  Davidson — English.  Mystery  Plays. 


-,r, 


Orleans,    XII    Century. 
Responsio  cujusque  : 
Pax  quoque  tibi ! 
Tunc  ostendant  sibimutuo  [stellam]  : 
Ecce  stella  !  ecce  stella  !  ecce  stella  ! 
Procedente  autcm  stella,  sequent ur  ipst 
prcecedentem  stellam  dicentes: 
Eamus1  ergo  et  inquirainus  eum,  offer- 
entes  ei  nmnera,  aurum,  thus,  et  myr- 
rham,  quia  seriptum  didicimus  :  Ador- 
abunt  eum  omnes  reges,  onmes  gentes 
servient  ei. 

Venientes  ad    ostium    chori,    interrogent 
astantes : 


i  Also  at  Limoges. 


Dicite3  nobis,  O  Ierosolimitani  eives, 
ubi  est  expectatio  gentium,  ubi  est  qui 
natus  est  rex  Judaeorum,  quem  signis 
coelestibus  agnitum  venimus  adorare  ? 


2  Given  in  full  by  Du  Meril,  p.  154. 

3  P  and  O  insert  Herod  episode,  R  the 
procession.  At  Limoges  the  magi  lay  down 
their  presents  and  go  to  the  offering. 


Quibus    visis,    Herodes    mittat    ad    eos  4  Given  by  Du  Meril,  p.  154. 

armigerum,  qui  dicat :  5  F  informs  the  king  by  a  messenger  of 

Quje  rerum  novitas  aut  qua?  vos  causa  the  approach  of  the  magi ;  O  allows  Herod 

,  to  perceive  it  for  himself. 

°  6  Authors  seem  to  disagree  as  to  position 

Ignotas   temptare   vias  '.      quo  tenditis  of  this.    pr0bably  the  position  in  O  is  the 

ergo  ?  original  one. 
Quod   genus  ?     unde  domo  ?     pacemne 
hue  fertis  an  arma  ? 


^  Lines  illegible,  partly  supplied  from  O. 


MAGI  : 

Chaldaei  sumus  ;  pacem  ferimus  ; 
Eegem  regum  quaerinms, 
Quem  natum  esse  stella  indicat, 
Quw  fulgore  ca?teris  clarior  rutilat. 


56  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Rouen,  XIV  Century.  Freising,    X    Century. 

internuncius  ad  regem  : 
Vive  rex  in  seternum  : 

rex  :' 
Quid  .    .    .   habesque  .    .   .   nunti 


INTERNUNTIUS  : 

Rex  mir  .  .  .  regis  .  .  . 

.  .  .  vocemns  nt  eoram  sermones  an  .  .  . 

internuntius  ad  Magos  : 
Regia  vos  mandata  vocant,  non  segniter 
ite. 

ad  regem  : 
En  Magi  veninnt  et  regern  regum  lmtnm, 
stella  duce,  requirnnt. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  57 

Orleans,  XII  Century. 
armiger  reversus  salutai  regejn  :  flexo 

genu  dicat : 
Vivat  rex  in  ivternum  !  1  The  normal  form  of  this  episode  prob- 

ably  differs  from  both  of  these.    The  num- 
ber of  actors  appears  to  have  confused  the 
Salvet  fce  gratia  mea  !  authors. 

ARMIGER  : 
Adsttnt  nobis,  Dornine,  tres  viri  ignoti, 
ab    oriente    venientes,    novum    natuiu 
quemdam  regem  quseritantes. 
Tunc  initial  iikkodks  oratores  oel  inter- 
pretes  swos  ad  magos,  dicens  : 
Lasti    inquisitores,    qui    sunt    inquirite 

reges, 
Affore  quos  nostris  jam  fama  revolvit 
in  oris. 

interpretes  ad  Magos  : 
Principis   edictu,  reges,  praescire  veni- 

mus 
Quo   sit   profectus   hie   vester   et  unde 
profectus  i 

MAGI  : 
Regem   quaesitum,    duce    stella   signifi- 

catum, 
Munere  proviso,  properamus  eum  ven- 
erando. 
oratores,  reversi  ad  Herodem  : 
Reges  sunt  Arabum  ;  cum  trino  munere    * 

natum 

Quaerunt    infantem,    quern    monstrant 

sidera  regem. 

herodes,  mittens  Armigerum  pro 

Magis : 

Ante  venire  jube,  quo  possim  singula 

scire, 
Qui  sunt  ?     cur  veniant  ?     quo  nos  ru- 
more  requirant  ? 

armiger : 
Quo   mandas   citius,  rex  indite,   profi- 
cietur. 

armiger  ad  Magos  : 
Regia  vos  mandata  vocant,  non  segniter 

ite. 
armiger,  adducens  Mayas  a<l  Herodem: 
En    Magi    veniunt,     et    regem    natum, 
stella  duce,  requirunt. 
Trans.  Conn.  Acad.,  Yol.  IX.  October,  188*." 

5 


58 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Rouen,  XIV  Century.  Freising,  X  Century. 

hex  ad  internuntium  : 

Ante  venire  jube,  quo  possim  singula 
scire,  qui  sint,  cur  veniant,  quo  nos  ru- 
more  requirant  .  .  .  iude  .  .  .  aut  .  .  . 
die  .  .  .  suavis  ex  .  .  . 

eex  ad  Magum  primum  : 
Tu    mini    responde    stans    primus    in 
ordine,  fari ! 

Respondeat  primus  : 
Impero  Chaldeis  doininans  rex  omnibus 

mis. 

Ad  Secundum  : 
Tu,  autem,  unde  es  ? 

Respondeat  secundus  : 
Tharsensis  regio  me  rege  .  .  .  Zoroastro. 

Ad  Tertiwm  : 
Tute  ....  unde  es  ? 

Respondeat  tertius  : 

Me Arabes,  mihi    parent  usque 

fideles. 

rex: 
Regem,  quem  queritis,  natum  esse,  quo 
signo  didicistis  ? 

Respond  eant: 
Ilium  natum  esse  didicimus  in  oriente ; 
stella  monstravit. 

rex: 
Ex  quo   ilium   regnare   creditis,    dicite 
nobis. 

Nunc  respondeant: 
Hunc   regnare   fatentes,    cum   inysticis 

muneribus 
de  terra  longinqua  adorare  venimus. 

primus  --1 
Auro  regem. 

secundus  : 
Thure  deum. 

tertius  : 
Mirra  mortalem. 


REX  ad  milites  : 
Vos  mei  sinistri,  accite  disertos  pagina 
scribas  prophetiea. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  59 

Orleans,    XII    Century. 


herodes,  ad  Mayos  : 
Quae  sit  causa  viae  '.     qui  vos  ?     vel  uncle 

venitis  ? 
Dicite. 

MAGI  : 

Rex   est   causa  viae ;    reges   sumus    ex 

Arabitis ; 
Hue  quasrimus  Regem  regnantibus  iin- 

peritantem, 

Quern    uatum    mundo    lactat    Judaic* 

virgo. 

herodes : 
Regem  queni  quseritis  natum  esse  quo 

signo  didicistis  ? 


MAGI  : 
Ilium  regnare  fatentes, 
Cum  mysticis  muueribus 
De  teiTa  longinqua  adorare  venimus 
Ternum  Deum  venerantes  tribus   cum 
muneribus. 


Tunc  ostend, nit  nnnicra  :  primus1  diced:       '  At  Limoges  given  in  song  with  action 


Auro  regem. 

secundus : 
Thure  Deum. 

tertitts  : 
Myrrh  a  mortalem. 

Tunc  herodes  imperat  sinistris  qui  cum 
eo  sedent  in  habitv.  juvenili,  ut  addu- 
cant  Scribasqui  in  diversorio  parati sunt 
barbati  : 

Vos,  mei  sinistri, 

Legisperitos  ascite, 

Ut  discant  in  prophetis 

Quod  sentiant  ex  his. 


while  advancing  through  the  choir,  befoi 
the  star  has  been  seen. 


60  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Rouen,  XIV  Century.  Freising,  X  Century. 

miles  ad  scribas  : 
Vos  legis  periti,1 
ad  regem  vocati, 
cum  prophetarum  libris 
properando  venite. 

rex,  ad  scribas  : 
0  vos  scribe, 
interrogati  dicite, 
si  quid  de  hoc  puero 
scriptuui  habetis  in  libro. 


Respondeant  scribe  : 
Vidimus  domine  in  prophetarum  libris, 
nasci  Christum  in   Bethlehem  civitate, 
David  propheta  sic  vaticinante. 

Antiphona  Bethlehem. 

rex2  ad  scribas : 
.  .  .  finem  spectat  prudentia  rerum  ? 
Vadite  cum  vestris  .  .  .  estis  ! 
et  projiciat  I  thru  m . 


rex  ad  proeercs  : 
Consilium  nobis,  Proceres,  date  laudis, 
honoris 

armigers  ad  regem  : 
Audi  que  facias,  rex,  audi   pauca  sed 

apta  !  mox  des  dona  Magis,  ne 

morari,  ut  noviter  nato  quern  querunt 
rege  reperto,  rex,  per  te  redeant  ut  te 
ipse  scias  quod  adores. 

rex  iii!  armigerum  : 
Abdnc  externos  citins.  vasalle,  tyrannos. 

armiger  ad  magos: 
Regia  vos  mandata  vocant. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  61 

Orleans,  XII  Century. 
sinistri  ad    Scribas,   et  adducant  eos 
rum  libris  prophetarum  : 
Vos,  legisperiti,  i  This  incident  seems  to  have  been  exactly 

Ad  regem  vocati,  copied  from  one  original. 

Cum  prophetarum  libris 
Properando  venite. 
Postea  hkrodes  interroget  Scribas, 
dicens ; 
I )  vos.  scribae, 
Interrogati  dicite, 
Si  quid  de  hoc  puero 
Scriptum  videritis  in  libro. 
Tunc  scrib.-e  diu   revolvant  librum,  et 
tii, at, -,,1  inventa  quasi propJietica,  dicant: 
Vidimus,    Domine,   etc.,   et  ostendentes 
en  hi  digitoregiincredulo  tradant  librum: 
Vidimus,  Domine,  in  prophetarum 
Lineis,  nasci  Christum 
In  Bethleern  Judas  civitate, 
David  propheta  sic  vaticinante. 
Chorus.    Bethleern  non  est  minima,  etc. 
Tunc  HERODES,-  visa  prophetica,  furore 
accensus,    projiciat    librum  ;   et  filius 
ejus,  audita  tumultu,  procedat pacifica- 
turus  patrem,  et  stans  salutet  eum  : 
Salve,  pater  inclite, 
Salve,  rex  egregie, 
Qui  ubique  imperas, 
Sceptra  tenens  regia. 

HERODES. 

Fili  amantissime,  3  The  soldier  in  F  gives  the  advice  upon 

Digne  laudis  munere  which  the  king  acts  ;  in  O  he  acts  without 

T       -,.  advice.    The  introduction  of  the  son  seems 

Laudis  pompam  regiae  .    .         ,   .  _ 

r       x  °  to  have  led  the  author  astray. 

Tuo  gerens  nomine, 

Rex  est  natus  fortior, 

Nobis  [qiie]  potentior ; 

Vereor  ne  solio 

Nos  extrahet  regio. 
T",ir  filius  despective  loquens,   afferat 
se  ad  vindictam,  dicens  : 

Contra  ilium  regulum, 

Contra  natum  parvulum, 

Jube,  pater,  filium 

Hoc  inire  pra?lium. 
Tunc  demum    dimittat  herodes  Magos 
ut   inquirant   de  puero,    et    coram    eis 
spondeat  regi  nato,  dicens  : 


2  Here  there  is  variation  again.  The  wrath 
is  the  same,  but  the  wording  is  different. 


62  Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 

Rouen,  XIV  Century.  Freising,    X    Century. 

Dum  autem  processio  navem  Ecclesice  in- 
trare  cceperit,  corona  ante  crucem  pendens 
in  modum  stellce  accendatur,  et  magi 
stellam  ostendentes,  ad  imaginem  sanctce 

Mario?,  super  altare  crucis  prius  positam    Ite,  et  de  puero  diligenter  investigate, 
cantantes  pergant :  et,  invento,  redeuntes  mihi  renunciate, 

ut  ego  veniens  adorem  euin. 

magi  aspicientes  stellam  canant  : 
Ecce  stella  in  Oriente  praevisa1  Ecce  stella  in  oriente  praevisa1 

iterum  praecedit  nos  lucida,2  etc.  iterum  praecedit  nos  lueida. 


magi3  ad  pastores  : 
Pastores,  dicite,  quidani  vidistis  ? 

pastores  : 
Tnfantem  vidimus  pannis  involutum. 


Hoc  finito,  DUO6  de  majori  sede  cum  Dal- 

maticis  et  utraque  altaris  parte  stantes, 

suaviter  respondeant :  angelus  :6 

Qui  sunt  hi  qui,  stella  duce,  nos  adeun-  Qui  sunt  hi  qui  stella  duce,  nos  adeun- 

tes  inaudita  f  erunt  ?  tes  inaudita  f  eiamt  ? 

magi6  dicunt :  magi6  respondeant: 

Nos  sunius,  quos  cernitis,  reges  Tharsis  Nos  sumus,  quos  eernitis,  reges  Tharsis 

et    Arabum    et    Sabae,    dona    ferentes  et    Arabuni    et    Sabae,    dona    ferentes 

Christo  regi  nato,  domino,  quern,  stella  Christo  nato,  regi  domino,  quern,  stella 

deducente,  adorare  venimus.  duce,  adorare  venimus. 


Charles  Davidson — 'English.  Mystery  Plays. 


68 


Orleans,    XII    Century. 
Ite.  ft  de  puero  diligenter  investigate, 
Et  invento,  redeuntes  michi  renunciate, 

Ut  ego  veniens  adorem  eum. 
Magis  egredientibus,  prceeedat  stella  eos, 
quae  nondum  in  conspectu  Herodis  appa- 
ruit,  quam  tpsi  sibi  mutuo  ostendentes, 
procedant.  Qua  visa  Herodes  et  filius 
minentur  cum  gladiis. 

Ecee  !     stella  in  oriente  prsevisa1 
Iteram  prsecedit  nos  lucida. 
Interim  pastores,  redeuntes  a prcesepe, 
veniant  gaudentesei  cantantes  in  eundo. 
O  regem  coeli ! 

Ad  quos  magi  :3 
Quem  vidistis  ? 

pastores : 
Secundum  quod  dictum  est  nobis  ab 
angelo  de  puero  isto,  invenimus  infan- 
tem  pannis  involutum  et  positum  in 
praesepio,  in  medio  duum  animalium. 
Posted,  pastoribus  abeuntibus,4  MAGI 
procedant  post  stellam  usque  ad  prce- 
sepe, cantantes  : 

Qua?  non  praevalent  propria  magnitudine, 
Caelum,  terra,  atqiie  maria  lata  capere, 
De  virgineo  natus  utero, 
Ponitur  in  praesepio, 
Sermo  cecinit  quem  vatidicus  : 
Stat  simul  bos  et  asinus. 
Sed  oritur  stella  lucida 
Priebitum  Domino  obsequia, 
Quem  Balaam  ex  Judaica 
Nasciturum  dixerat  prosapia. 
Haec   nostrorum   oculos   fulguranti  lu- 

mine  perstrinxit  lucida, 
Et  nos  ipsos  provide  ducens  ad  cuna- 

bula  resplendens  fulgida. 
Tunc  OBSTETRiCES5  viilentes.  Magos  allo- 
quantur : 
Qui  sunt  hii  qui,  stella  duce, 
Nos  adeuntes  inaudita  fertuit  '. 
MAGI  :e 
Nos  sumus  quos  cemitis  reges  Tharsis 
et    Arabum    et     Saba,    dona    ferentes 
Christo  nato,  regi  Domino,  quem,  stella 
ducente,  adorare  venimus. 


i  Here  the  procession  and  Herod  episode 
closing-,  the  three  plays  agree  again. 
2  Given  in  full  by  Du  Meril,  p.  155. 


s  In  O  the  shepherds  have  an  appropriate 
introduction,  in  F  none. 


4  The  introduction  of  this  song  is  one  of 
many  proofs  of  the  higher  artistic  finish 
of  O. 


Presbyters,  evidently. 


6  These  lines  would  seem  to  argue  a  com 
mon  dramatic  origin. 


64 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


Rouen,  XIV  Century. 
Tunc  duo  dalmaticati  aperientes  corti- 

nam,  dicant: 
Ecce,  puer  adest  quern  quaeritis.     Jam 
properate  adorare,  quia  ipse  est  redemp- 
tio  mundi. 
Tunc  procidentes  reges  ad  terram  simul, 

salutent  puerum ,  ita  dicentes  : 
Salve  Princeps  saeeulorurn. 
Time  unus  a  suo  f amnio  aurum  acci- 
piat,  et  dicat  : 


Freising,    X    Century. 

OBSTETRICES  : 

Ecce,  puer  adest  quern  queritis.  Jam 
properate  et  orate  quia  ipse  est  redeinp- 
tio  mundi. 

Tntrantes  magi  : 
Salve  princeps  seculorum. 


Suscipe,  rex,  aurum. 

secundus  Rex  ita  dicat,  et  offered  : 
Tolle  thus,  tu  vere  deus  ! 

tertius  ita  dicat,  et  offerat  : 
Myrrham,  signum  sepulturae. 
Interim  fiant  oblationes  a  clero  et  pop- 
ido,     et     dividatur     oblatio    pratdictis 
Canonicis. 

Tunc  Magis  orantibus,  et  quasi  somno 
sopitis,  quidam  puer  alba  indutus,  et 
quasi  Angelus,  in  pidpitoz  illis  dicat 
hanc  antiphonam  : 

Impleta    sunt    omnia    quae   Prophetice 
dicta    sunt.      Ite    ab   viam    remeantes 
aliam  ne  delatores  tauti  regis  puniendi 
eritis.4 
Hoc  finito,  cantor  incipiat  ad.introitum 

Chori  responsorium  : 
Tria  sunt  munera.5 

Versus.1     Salutis  nostras  auctor. 

.1^  Missam  tres  Reges  Chorum  regant, 

qui  festive  cantent: 
Kyrie  Fons  bonitatis,  Alleluija. 
Sanctus,  et  Agnus. 

Officmm : 
Ecce  advenit. 


primus  :* 
Suscipe,  rex,  aurum  ! 

secundus : 
Tolle  thus,  tu  vere  deus  ! 
tertius  : 
Mirram,  signum  sepulture. 


angelus  ad  prostratos  magos  : 
Impleta    sunt    omnia    que    prophetice 
dicta  sunt.     Ite,  viam  remeantes  aliam, 
ne  delatores  tanti  regis  puniendi  sitis. 
magi  redeuntes  antiphonam  canant: 
0  regem  celi.6 


INTERNUNCIO  ! 

In  asternum  vive  domine  ! 
Magi  viam  redierunt  aliam. 
rex  prosiliens  : 
Incendium  ineum  ruina  extinguam  !s 

armiger  : 
Discerne,9  domine,  vindicare  iram  tuarn 
et  stricto  mucrone  querere  jube  pueros  ; 
forte  inter  occisos  occidetur  et  puer. 
rex  glad iii  iii    oersans   armigero   reddit 

tliccns: 
Armiger   eximie,    pueros   fac   ense   pe- 
rire  ! 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays.  65 

Orleans,  XII  Century. 

obstetrices  ostendentes  puerum  : 
u.  r  ml.  >t  quem  quseritis.     Jam 
properate    ei    adorate,    quia    ipse    est 
redemptio  mundi. 

M.\i;i  : 

Salve,  rex  sseCTilorum  !'  i  Another  proof  of  artistic  superiority  in 

Salve,  Deus  Deoruni  !  O. 

Salve,  salus  ruortuoruin  ! 

Tunc  procedentes  magi,  adorent  Puerum 

et  offer-,)!. 

primus   dicat:  o  ,         .     .  .         ,.*.,.« 

-  An  episode  common  in  earler  ritualistic 
Suscipe,  rex,  aurum.  regis  signum.  playSi  probabiy  the  invention  of  one  author 

seccxdus :  there. 

Suscipe  myrrham,  signuni  sepulturae. 

tertius  : 
Suscipe  thus,  tu  vere  Deus. 
Istis  fact  is,  Magi  incipiant  dormire  ibi 
ante  prcesepe,   donee    axgelcs    desuper 
apparens,  moneat  in  somnis  ut  redeant 

in  regionem  suam  per  aliam  oiam  :  ,  ^„  .    „ 

s  A  plattorm  necessary  as  in  Sens  resur- 

Irnpleta    sunt    omuia   quae    prophetice    rection  play,  p.  67. 

scripta  sunt.    Ite  viain  renieautes  aliam, 

nee  delatores  tauti  regis  punieudi  eritis. 

magi  evigilantes: 

Deo    gratias !     surgamus    ergo,    visioue 

°  •»  Note.— Then  the  three  kings  go  through 

momti  angelica  et.  caUe  mutato,  lateant    the  side  aisleg  outof  the  church  and  reSnter 

Herodem  quae  vidimus  de  puero.  by  the  left  door  into  the  choir. 

T maui    abeuntes   per   aliam    mam,       5  Given  in  full  by  Du  M«',il.  ,,.  m 

6  The  closing-  of  F  is  evidently  a  reminis- 
non  vidente  Herode.  cantent:  cence  of  some  play  of  the  slaughter  of  the 

0  admirabile  commercium  !  innocents. 

Creator  omnium.  '  The  closing-  of  R  shows  its  affinity  to 

the  church  service. 
Tunc  venientes  ehoro,  dxcent: 

Gaudete,  fratres, 

Ckristus  nobis  natus  est,  ,  The  Sal]ust  tag.  which  occurs  also  m 

Deus  homo  factus  est !  « Interfectio  Puerorum'  and  in  '  Ordo  Kach- 

Tunc  caxtor  incipit :  elis''  Sallust  is  "uoted  al8°  in  ,the  s,econd 

journeeof  Saint  Didier,  and  other  classics 

Te  Deum,  etc.  elsewhere .— Julleville,  Les  Mysteres,  vol.  1, 

p.  261. 
a  Agrees  with  'Interfectio  Puerorum.' 


66  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Here  we  close  the  second  step  of  our  investigation.  We  have 
seen  the  simple  liturgy  of  the  early  church  grow  into  an  elaborate 
symbolism,  which  presented  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus  so  indirectly 
that  the  hearts  of  men  were  seldom  touched  by  its  teachings.  This 
symbolism  the  new  faith  in  a  daily  sacrifice  revivified,  and  through 
it  men's  hearts  were  again  melted  by  the  tragedy  of  the  cross.  In 
the  Western  church  the  desire  to  view  concretely  that  which  had 
touched  the  heart  so  profoundly,  led  to  theatrical  representation  of 
the  highest  dramatic  moments  of  the  ritual.  Two  groups  of  such 
moments  we  have  followed  down  :  the  first,  until  we  found  it  pass- 
ing over  to  the  vernacular,  a  sure  sign  of  severance  from  the  church 
offices  ;  the  second,  until  single  plays  became  but  scenes  or  episodes 
in  a  more  complicated  drama,  another  sign  of  approaching  inde- 
pendence, since  such  plays  could  no  longer  hold  their  appropriate 
places  in  the  church  calendar.1 

As  these  plays  conform  more  and  more  to  the  popular  taste,  the 
sphere  of  their  influence  broadens,  and  their  volume  expands. 
Soon  they  will  supplant  the  chanson  de  geste  in  the  affections  of 
the  French,  and  the  literati  of  a  nation  will  express  through  them 
the  mocking  spirit  of  the  Gaul,  cutting  with  its  satire  the  foibles 
of  church  and  nation. 

It  is  no  part  of  our  present  plan  to  seek  in  these  later  plays  of  the 
continent  for  testimony  concerning  medieval  thoughts  and  manners, 
nor  to  examine,  except  cursorily,  into  their  development  or  stage- 
setting.  We  are  nearing  the  time  when  the  English  plays, 
evidently  the  outcome  of  long-established  literary  traditions,  will 
present  themselves  fully  developed,  the  most  sympathetic  exponent 
of  the  popular  life  of  England  in  their  day,  and  wTill  offer  to  us,  iu 
the  question  of  their  literary  ancestry  and  relationships  what,  to  my 
mind,  is  the  most  interesting  literary  problem  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Some  knowledge,  however,  of  the  impress  of  the  national  spirit 
upon  the  cyclic  plays  of  the  continent,  as  shown  in  their  form  and 
in  the  manner  of  their  presentation,  will  give  increased  significance 
to  many  features  of  the  English  plays.  Accordingly,  we  turn  again 
to  the  continental  plays  to  learn  how  cycles  were  built  up,  with 
something  of  their  content  and  dependence  upon  the  devices  for 
their  presentation.  It  will  be  necessary,  also,  to  consider  the  atti- 
tude of  the  church  towards  the  plays  while  they  remained  within 
the  church  edifice,  as  well  as  after  they  had  passed  out  from  under 
clerical  authority,  and  to  notice  in  passing  the  organizations,  liter- 
ary and  otherwise,  that  made  them  their  care. 


i  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  simple  plays  of  the  church  offices  held  their  own 
until  the  Reformation,  side  by  side  with  the  expanded  plays,  and  that  sometimes  clergy 
and  laity  were  in  active  competition. 


Charles  Davidson —  English  Mystery  Plays.  G7 

X. 

THE   STAGE   AND   THE   PLAY   IN  FRANCE. 

In  the  Orleans  and  Freising  plays  we  have  seen  one  method  of 
combination  by  which  single  and  ritual  plays  formed  a  continued 
drama.  A  related  development  is  connected  with  the  evolution  of 
the  stage.  In  the  Mont  St.  Michel  and  Sens  resurrection  plays 
we  are  informed  that  the  angel  had  a  station  'super  altare,'  'in 
pulpito."  In  the  'Officium  Peregrinorum '  of  Rouen  are  these 
words:  "  Et  ita  cantantes,  ducant  eum  usque  ad  tabernaculum  in 
medio  navis  ecclesia1,  similitudinem  castelli  Emau  prpeparatum." 
In  the  Orleans  play  we  read  as  a  stage  direction  :  "  Parato  Herode 
et  caeteris  personis,"  and  in  the  Freising  play  :s  "  Ascendat  rex  et 
sedeat  in  solio." 

From  these  directions  it  is  evident  that  all  the  actors  took  their 
assigned  positions  upon  the  stage  at  the  opening  of  the  play,  and 
were  conventionally  absent  when  not  performing  their  parts.  Thus 
we  read  in  the  Orleans  play  :3  "  Tunc  Magi  abeuntes  per  aliam 
viam,  non  vidente  Herode;"  so,  in  'Interfectio  Puerorum,' 4 
"Joseph  abiens,  non  vidente  Herode." 

The  greater  number  of  the  actors  did  not  move  about  the  stage, 
but  held  fixed  stations  which  were  marked  out  upon  the  platform5 — 
here  a  throne  and  palace  hall,  there  the  interior  of  a  dwelling — while 
one  or  two  actors  passed  from  group  to  group,  connecting  through 
their  action  the  different  episodes,  each  of  which  embodied  a  single 
ritual  play.  These  platforms  were  originally  erected  in  the  nave  ; 
at  Rouen,6  "  in  medio  navis  ecclesia?."  Upon  the  platform  the  sta- 
tions,7 at  first  but  slightly  marked  off,  were  afterwards  defined  by 
upright  posts  and  cross-beams,  the  platform  extending  farther  down 
the  nave  as  the  stations  increased  in  number.  The  plays  seem  often 
to  require  an  unobstructed  view  across  the  stage,  which  would 
necessitate  stations  without  sides,  and  as  neai'ly  as  possible  free  from 
theatrical  furniture  and  scenery.8 

How  these  primitive  theatrical  arrangements  were  used  we  learn 
from  certain  miracle  and  mystery  plays.  In  the  '  Secundum  Mirac- 
ulum  Sancti  Nicholai'  of  the  Orleans9  MS.,  there  is  one  station,  the 
house  of  Senex.     The  action  is  as  follows  : 


i  See  p.  65.  2  See  p.  50.  3  See  p.  65.  *  Wright. 

5  Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  68.  6  Du  Cange,  Peregrinorum  Officium. 

'  Cp.  Julleville,  vol,  1,  p.  388.  8  Mone,  vol.  2,  p.  158.  9  Wright. 


68  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

The  traveling  students  approach,  converse,  enter,  dine,  and  go  to  sleep.  Their  death 
is  planned  and  in  some  way,  probably  by  dumb  show,  represented.  St.  Nicholas  applies 
for  admission,  enters,  in  dining  brings  conviction  to  Senex  by  his  words,  prays  that  the 
students  may  be  restored  Jo  life,  and  students  and  all  join  in  the  closing-  'Te  Deum 
laudamus.'i 

In  the  'Quartum  Miraculum  Sancti  Nicholai,' of  the  same  MS.," 
the  stations  have  grown  to  three.  On  one  side  Rex  Marmorinus  sits 
enthroned,  with  armed  guards  ;  on  the  other  side  Rex  Getron  with 
wife,  son,  and  attendants  ;  in  the  centre  stands  the  church  of  St. 
Nicholas.  The  action  is  carried  on  principally  by  messengei's,  is 
brief,  and  illustrates  the  use  of  fixed  stations. 

The  attendants  salute  Rex  Marmorinus  :  "  Salve,  princeps,  salve,  rex  optime  !"  The 
king-  orders  them  to  go  forth,  subjugate  the  world,  and  slay  those  resisting  them. 

Getron  with  wife,  son,  and  priests  goes  to  the  church  as  to  some  church  festival.  At 
the  sight  of  the  guards  of  Marmorinus,  who  are  carrying  out  their  lord's  mandates  by 
an  advance  upon  the  church,  Getron  flees,  leaving  the  boy  behind,  who  is  led  in  triumph 
by  the  soldiers  to  their  king,  to  whom  they  announce :  "  Quod  jussisti,  rex  bone,  feci- 
mus." 

The  king  ascribes  praise  to  Apollo  and  inquires  of  the  boy  his  parentage.  This  ques- 
tion gives  occasion  for  six  quatrains,  rhyming  in  couplets,  in  which  the  king  affirms: 
"Deus  meus  Apollo  Deus  est,"  and  the  boy  stoutly  maintains:  "  Deus  tuus  mendax  et 
malusest." 

Meanwhile,  Getron's  wife,  discovering  her  loss,  returns  to  the  church  in  search  for 
her  son,  and  now  bursts  forth  into  lamentations.  Her  attendants  seek  to  comfort  her, 
and  she  prays  to  Nicholas  for  the  return  of  her  son  : 

Nicholas  pater  sanctissime, 
****** 
Fac  ut  meus  redeat  Alius. 
It  seems  that  she  then  returns  home,  although  the  stage  direction  is  lacking,  and  her 
husband  in  four  quatrains,  rhyming  in  couplets,  advises  dependence  upon  Nicholas. 
They  then  arise,  go  to  the  church,  and  she  again  prays  to  St.  Nicholas.    Afterwards 
they  return  home,  and  the  table  is  spread  with  bread  and  wine,  of  which  the  clergy  and 
beggars  partake,— possibly  a  hint  to  the  lookers-on  of  the  proper  treatment  of  the  stu- 
dent actors. 

About  this  time.  Rex  Marmorinus  decides  that  he  is  hungry,  and  calls  for  food,  which 
his  attendants  bring.  Water  also  is  brought;  the  king  washes  his  hands,  and  eats. 
He  is  thirsty,  and  bids  the  son  of  Getron  bring  wine.  The  boy  sighs  heavily,  the  king 
demands  the  cause,  and  emphasizes  the  impossibility  of  rescue.  Incidentally,  the  boy 
states  that  he  has  been  prisoner  a  year.  Now  enters  "  aliquis  in  similitudine  Nicholai," 
and  leads  the  boy  out  of  the  king's  house.  This,  in  spite  of  the  attention  centered  upon 
the  boy,  no  one  discovers ! 

A  citizen  of  Getron's  dominions,  who  for  unexplained  reasons  is  in  hostile  territory, 
asks  the  lad's  name,  and  runs  to  Getron  with  the  news  : 

Gaude,  Getron,  nee  fleas  amplius; 
Extra  fores  Stat  tuus  Alius. 
Nicholai  laudat  magnalia, 
Cujus  eum  reduxit  gratia. 
The  mother  hurries  to  her  son,  kisses  him  repeatedly  and  praises  God  and  St.  Nicholas. 
The  play  ends,  "Chorus  Omnis.'' 


i  The  Salisbury  Missal  of  1534  has  a  picture  of  St.  Nicholas,  with  the  children  rising 
from  a  tub,  where  their  members  have  been  placed  in  pickle  by  the  inn-keeper.— Hone's 
Ancient  Mysteries,  p.  191.  =  Wright. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  69 

Such  plays  make  us  conscious  of  the  feeble  beginnings  from 
which  dramatic  art  lias  arisen.  This  play  reads  like  a  children's 
play  for  an  improvised  theater.  The  playwright  succeeds  fairly 
well  in  the  capture,  though  the  absurdity  shown  in  the  confidence  of 
the  soldiers  that  such  a  capture  fulfilled  such  a  command  is  appar- 
ently not  evident  to  the  author.  The  child  is  now  in  the  king's 
power ;  how  to  contrive  a  reasonable  escape  would  seem  a  diffi- 
cult problem,  but  it  does  not  trouble  our  dramatist.  The  boy  is 
reintroduced  through  his  conversation  with  the  king,  though  this 
expedient  would  seem  to  make  his  unobserved  escape  a  difficult 
matter.  Not  at  all  ;  an  invisible  St.  Nicholas  enters  and  sets  the 
boy  over  the  threshold,  when  he  is  free  to  go  where  he  will.  The 
infancy  of  art  alone  possesses  such  resources.  Rex  Marmorinus 
does  not  leave  his  seat  during  the  play,  and  Rex  Getron  simply 
walks  to  the  church  and  back.  Such  simplicity  of*  action  requires 
a  narrative  play  with  no  complexity  of  situation  and  but  few  lead- 
ing characters.  To  such  requirements  the  Bible  story  readily  adapts 
itself,  as  we  shall  now  see  in  the  condensed  C3Tclic  play  found  in 
the  earliest  extant  Italian  mystery  play,  and  in  one  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  in  Germany. 


XL 

THE  STAGE  AND  THE  PLAY  IN  ITALY. 

According  to  Klein  the  oldest  Italian  plays,1  known  as  "Devo- 
zioni,"  were  designed,  the  first  for  Maundy  Thursday,  the  second 
for  Good  Friday.2     An  analysis  may  be  given  as  follows  :3 

The  scene  opens  with  the  meal  at  the  house  of  Lazarus  six  days  before  Easter.* 
Christ  enters  as  from  Jerusalem.    Mary,  followed  by  Mary  Magdalene  and  Martha, 
goes  to  meet  Him,  embraces  Him,  and  conjures  Him  not  to  return,  as  the  Jews  will 
kill  him.    Christ  answers  that  He  must  do  the  will  of  His  Father,  but  that  she  must 
not  be  sad,  as  He  will  tell  her  before  He  goes.    They  embrace  again. 

At  that  the  meal  is  served.  Mary  remains  standing  by  Christ,  saying  continually, 
'■  My  Sim,  My  Son."  In  the  meal  Lazarus  takes  part.  At  the  close  Christ  calls  Mary  Mag- 
dalene to  his  side  and  informs  her,  while  she  kneels  before  Him,  that  He  will  go  to-day 

i  Dialect  old  and  mixed;  Palermo,  as  referred  to  by  Klein,  vol.  4,  p.  165.  Date  in  first 
half  of  fourteenth  century.— Klein,  vol.  4,  p.  165. 

s  The  only  Italian  representative  of  this  step  of  development.— Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  66. 
The  play  not  in  the  liturgy  but  acted  during  service.— Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  67. 

s  The  following-  abstract  follows  Klein  4,  p.  157  II.,  and  Ebert  in  Jahrbuch  fur  Koraan- 
ische  und  Engliache  Literatur  5,  p.  58  ff. 

<  Ebert  believes  that  there  was  a  scaffold  in  the  middle  aisle,  upon  which  Bethany  and 
!  the  Mount  of  Olives  were  located.— Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  68 ;  cp.  p,  104. 


70  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

to  Jerusalem,  where  He  will  suffer  the  death  of  the  cross.  He  commends  to  her  care 
His  mother,  who  will  be  so  deeply  troubled.  She  herself  is  to  keep  this  news  a  secret 
until  He  is  taken. i  Mary  Magdalene  promises  this,  then  kisses  His  feet.  He,  thereupon, 
retires  and  joins  the  rest  of  the  company,  but  Mary  Magdalene  remains.  Mary  comes  to 
Mary  Magdalene  and  wishes  to  know  what  her  Son  has  said,  but  Mary  Magdalene 
declines  to  tell.  Both,  then,  go  to  Christ.  Mary  would  kneel  to  Him,  but  is  prevented 
by  Him.  She  asks  why  He  is  so  sad,  and  shows  great  anxiety.  Christ  now  tells  her  that 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world  He  goes  to  His  death.  Mary  swoons.  Reviving,  she 
bewails  her  fate.  "  Call  me  henceforth  no  more  Mary,  since  I  have  lost  Thee,  my  Son  !" 
At  the  close  of  the  conversation  both  fall  in  a  swoon.  They  rise  and  embrace.  Christ 
then  goes  to  His  seat.s 

Mary  kneels  to  Judas,  begging  him  not  to  forsake  Jesus,  if  He  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  peoples  Judas  permits  her  to  kneel,  and  replies  ambiguously,  "It  is  not 
necessary  to  entreat  me  more,  as  I  know  what  I  have  to  do."  She  then  kneels  to  Peter, 
who  will  not  permit  it,  and  vows  that  he  will  protect  Christ  against  the  world.  Now  go 
Mary,  Mary  Magdalene,  Martha,  and  Lazarus  to  Christ,  who  embraces  His  mother,  and 
offers  to  depart.  Mary  Magdalene  prays  that  they  may  accompany  Him  to  the  gate  of 
the  city,  to  which  Christ  assents.  They  proceed  together  to  Jerusalem.  When  they 
reach  the  gate,  Mary  declares  that  she  is  unwilling  to  leave  her  Son.  He  insists,  but 
promises  to  send  to  her  the  angel  Gabriel  until  John  can  come.  Instantly  the  angel 
appears.  Mary  blesses  her  Son.  Again  they  swoon.  Jesus  rises  and  "  steps  through 
another  door  into  Jerusalem."  Mary  Magdalene  and  Martha  raise  and  support  Mary 
while  she  speaks  to  the  people  : 

O  Figlio  mio  tanto  amoroso 

O  Figlio  mio,  due  se'  tu  andato  ? 

Ditemi,  o  done,  per  amore  de  Dio, 
Dov'  e  andato  el  Figlio  mio  ? 
She  then  turns  to  the  angel,  and  entreats  him  to  tell  her  all  the  sorrows  of  Christ,  that 
through  the  hearing  she  may  find  death.  Mary  Magdalene  entreats  Mary  to  return  to 
Bethany  and  await  John's  arrival.  Mary  beseeches  the  two  sisters  not  to  leave  her, 
kneeling  before  them.  They  now  return  to  Bethany,  Mary  speaking  touching  words 
to  the  women  by  the  way. '    All  enter  Bethany  together.* 

Forthwith,  the  scene  of  Christ's  prayer  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives  begins.  He  takes 
with  Him  Peter,  James,  and  John,  commands  them  to  rest  but  watch,  while  He  goes  to 
pray.  He  kneels  down,  takes  the  cups  in  His  hand,  and,  lifting  up  His  eyes,  prays.  He 
returns  to  His  followers,  as  in  the  Bible  narrative.  The  second  time,  Christ  puts  a 
stone  under  His  head  and  sleeps  a  little.  After  the  third  prayer  an  angel  appears. 
Christ  now  wakens  the  three  young  men  while,  according  to  the  stage  direction, 
the  armed  men  prepare  to  take  Him  prisoner.  Christ  goes  to  the  other  apostles.  The 
thief-catchers  with  Judas  come.  "Quern  qua?ritis?"  and  the  following  words  of  Christ 
are  in  Latin.  The  arrest  follows.  Fastened  by  a  thong,  Christ  is  led  away,  while  all  His 
followers  forsake  Him. 

Here  ends  the  play,  but  there  is  little  break  between  this  and  the 
'  Devozion  '  of  Good  Friday  which,  beginning  when  the  preacher 
comes  to  the  passage  where  Pilate  commands  that  Christ  shall  be 
scourged,7  is  as  follows  : 


i  Note  that  Jesus  informs  His  mother  soon  after,  and  this  requirement  of  secrecy 
seems  to  be  satisticil  by  .Mary  Magdalene's  refusal  to  tell  Mary. 

2  The  conventional  exit.    Cp.  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  389. 

3  One  of  the  most  artistic  touches  in  the  early  dramas. 

i  This  consciousness  <>i  an  audience  appears  elsewhere  in  this  play,  notably  where 
John  reminds  the  women  of  their  sons.  fl  A  conventional  exit. 

6  The  prostrations,  kissing,  blood,  and  cup  are  all  liturgical  traces.— Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  70. 

"  The  lesson  for  the  day  was  Chaps.  18  and  19  of  John's  Gospel,  the  nineteenth  begin- 
ning, "  Then  Pilate  took  Jesus  and  scourged  him."— Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  67. 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Piny*.  71 

Christ  enters,  stripped  for  the  scourging,  with  His  tormentors,  who  lead  Him  through 
the  throng-  to  the  assigned  spot  where  the  column  stands.  John  stands  near  Christ.  The 
Bcourgers  strike  Him  n  little  reverently,  and  listen  to  Christ's  words  to  John,  who  kneels 
before  Him.  He  bids  John  call  the  Virgin.  The  men  now  strike  and  revile  Christ  and 
lead  Him  away.  John  asks  the  people  where  Mary  is.  He  shows  a  black  garment 
which  he  would  carry  to  her,  and  seeks  to  rouse  feeling-  by  reminding  the  women  of 
their  own  sons.i 

Mary  Magdalene  now  comes  from  the  women's  side  of  the  church  to  the  stages  and 
Steps  before  John  while  she  bewails  the  sad  news  she  has  heard.  John  prays  her  to 
accompany  him  to  Mary,  as  he  lias  not  the  heart  to  go  alone.  Meanwhile  Mary  appears 
on  the  other  side  and  they  go  to  her.  She  laments  when  she  sees  the  black  garment. 
Mary  Magdalene  informs  her  of  Christ's  captivity,  and  invites  her  to  take  the  garment. 
Christ  now  appears  bearing  His  cross,  accompanied  by  a  throng  of  women,  to  whom  He 
teaches  the  words  of  the  Bible.  Meanwhile,  He  approaches  the  spot  where  Mary,  Mary 
Magdalene,  and  John  stand.  Mary  hastens  to  Him  to  embrace  Him.  The  Jews  drive 
her  away.  Christ  drops  His  cross.  Mary,  bemoaning  her  fate,  would  take  the  cross,* 
but  the  Jews  drive  her  back.  She  falls  fainting,  and  Christ  passes  on  to  Golgotha. 
Mary  revives,  seeks  for  her  Son,  inquires  of  the  women,  then  goes  with  Mary  Magda- 
lene and  John  to  the  place  of  execution. 

Now  the  preacher*  explains  the  situation,  and  at  a  signal  from  him  the  Jews  nail 
Christ  to  the  cross  and  lift  it  up.  Christ  speaks,  and  prays  for  His  enemies.  Mary 
addresses  the  cross.    "  Bow  down  thy  branches  that  thy  Creator  may  find  rest." 

Inclina  li  toi  rami,  o  croce  alta, 
E  dola  Ldona]  reposo  a  lo  tuo  Creatore ; 
Lo  corpo  precioso  ja  se  spianta ; 
Lasa  la  tua  forza  e  lo  tuo  rigore. 

Here  again  the  preacher  speaks,  while  the  play  pauses  until  he  gives  the  sign,  when 
Christ's  speech  with  the  robbers  follows.  Now  the  dead^  arise.  Three  of  these  speak  to 
Jesus,  declaring  that  the  souls  in  Hell  expect  Him,  the  Patriarchs  and  Prophets ;  one 
has  also  come  to  stand  by  Mary  and  serve  her. 

The  preacher  finds  it  necessary  to  explain  this.  Again  at  the  signal  the  play  goes  on. 
The  Virgin  prays  Mary  Magdalene  to  direct  Christ's  attention  to  her,  saying  that  He 
had  spoken  to  the  robbers,  but  not  a  word  to  her.e  Mary  Magdalene  complies,  and 
Christ  commends  His  Mother  to  the  care  of  John,  who,  kneeling  and  kissing  Mary's 
feet,  strives  to  comfort  her.    Mary  laments,  embraces  the  cross,  and  faints.' 

The  preacher  takes  up  his  discourse  until  Jesus  cries  out,  "My  God,  My  God,  why 
hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ?"  Meanwhile.  God  says  to  His  angels  that  they  must  strengthen 
His  Son.*  The  angels  prostrate  themselves,  withdraw  and  descends  They  examine  to 
see  which  is  the  Son.  Meanwhile,  the  devil  appears  and  approaches  the  cross  upon  the 
right  side.  One  of  the  angels  now  descends  fully,  to  receive  the  blood  of  Christ.  Jesus 
thirsts.  The  Jews  hand  Him  with  jokes  the  vinegar  mingled  with  gall,  and  He  refuses 
to  taste  it.    Mary  bewails  the  malice  of  the  Jews.    Jesus  exclaims,  "  It  is  finished." 

i  See  note  4,  p.  70. 

2  The  stage  is  only  one  location.  The  action  is  in  different  parts  of  the  church.— Klein, 
vol.  1,  p.  164. 

3  So  Mary  desires  to  take  the  cross  in  the  Woodkirk  Mysteries.  The  Towneley  Mys- 
teries, p.  212. 

•»  Compare  the  preacher  with  the  expositor  in  the  Chester  plays. 

5  See  cut,  p.  75. 

6  This  complaint  Mary  addresses  to  Christ  in  the  Coventry  Mysteries,  p.  322. 

"  Note  the  author's  repeated  recourse  to  this  as  an  expedient  for  removing  Mary  tem- 
porarily from  the  action. 

Ebert  believes  there  was  a  scaffold  in  the  choir  which  represented  Heaven,  that 
there  was  a  Hell  mouth  and  a  post  for  scourging,  but  that  some  action  took  place  in 
the  aisles  of  the  church.— Ebert.  vol.  5,  p.  68. 

a  There  must  have  been  a  stairway  from  Golgotha  to  Heaven,  or  some  means  for  paus- 
ing midway. 


V   0?  THB^^^ 

IVBRSXT7] 


72  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

The  preacher  again  explains.  At  a  sign  the  devil  speaks  in  humble  tone,  trying-  to  per- 
suade Christ  to  i-esign  the  world  to  him  and  save  himself  from  death.  Christ  turns 
from  him-" Thou  wilt  never  see  me  rest  until  I  have  driven  thee  out."  The  devil 
speaks  louder  and  more  threateningly,  promising  him  the  lordship  of  the  world.  The 
lance  thrust  of  Longinusi  follows,  his  healing  and  gratitude.  Jesus  again  speaks,  com- 
mending His  spirit  to  God,  at  which  the  devil  throws  himself  upon  the  ground. 

Again  the  preacher  speaks  to  the  people.  Mary  and  John  address  the  people, 
bewailing  Christ's  death.  Joseph  and  Nicodemus  enter,  and  take  Christ  from  the  cross. 
They  ask  of  Mary  permission  to  bury  Him.  She  grants  it,  but  will  first  embrace  Him. 
This  is  a  touching  scene.  Joseph  stands  at  Christ's  head,  Mary  Magdalene  at  His  feet. 
Mary  kisses  the  limbs  of  Christ,  His  eyes,  cheeks,  mouth,  sides,  and  feet,  while  she 
speaks  touching  words  to  the  others  or  they  to  her.  She  shows  John  the  lacerated 
hands.  "  These  are  the  holy  hands  wherewith  He  blessed  all,"  says  John.  The  angel 
Gabriel  appears  to  comfort  Mary  and  advise  her  to  permit  the  burial.  Mary  grants  it 
with  much  lamentation.  Joseph  and  Nicodemus  carry  Christ  to  the  grave,  while  Mary, 
John,  and  Mary  Magdalene  go  down  the  women's  aisle.  Mary  turns  and  shows  the  peo- 
ple the  nails  of  the  cross  which  she  carries.  Mary  Magdalene  exhorts  them  to  resist 
the  devil  as  Jesus  had  done.    Here  they  enter  Jerusalem  and  the  play  closes. 


XII. 
THE  STAGE   AND   THE  PLAY  IN  GERMANY. 

The  following  play  is  of  the  thirteenth  century.3  It  shows  an 
intermixture  of  Latin  and  German,  similar  to  that  observed  in  the 
Ludus  de  Nocte  Pasche.3  A  comparison  of  the  German  and  Ital- 
ian plays  will  serve  to  show  how  widely  accepted  were  the  same 
literary  conventions  among  the  writers  of  mysteries.  The  fixed 
stations,  the  continual  presence  of  the  actors,  their  supposed  absence 
when  sitting,  the  avoidance  of  any  complexity  of  action,  such  as 
the  advancement  of  plot  through  bye- play  ;  all  are  common  charac- 
teristics. In  development  the  German  play  is  evidently  the  older, 
since  it  is  still  largely  in  Latin.  It  also  lacks  many  of  the  dramatic 
features  of  the  Italian,  adhering  closely  to  the  Biblical  narrative 
where  the  Italian  artist  strikes  out  a  path  of  bis  own. 

The  following  abstract  was  made  from  Hoffmann's  edition  of  the 

play  : 

Pilate  and  wife  with  soldiers  take  their  places,  then  Herod  with  his  soldiers,  then  the 
priests,  the  merchant  and  his  wife,  lastly  Mary  Magdalene.  Afterwards,  the  'dominica 
persona' i  goes  alone  to  the  shore  to  call  Peter  ami  Andrew,  and  finds  them  fishing. 
The  Lord  s:iy>  to  them,  "  Follow  me;  1  will  make  you  ftshers  of  men."  They  reply, 
"Lord,  what-  thou  wishest,  we  will. do."  Then  the  Lord  goes  to  Zaccheus,  and  a  blind 
man  meets  him,— "Domine  lesu,  lili  David,  miserere  mei."  Jesus  heals  him.  He  then 
bids  Zaccheus  descend  from  the  tree,  as  he  would  tarry  at  his  housed    Jesus  passes  on. 


i  Longinus,   Hie  centurion,  stood  by  the  cross.     The  Gospel  of  Nicodemus.     [II.] 
Longinus,  the  soldier,  pierced  Christ's  side.— The  Gospel  of  Nicodemus.    TI-l 
2  Hoffmann,  vol.  2,  p.  845.  3  See  p.  25;  also  Hoffmann,  vol. ;.',  p.  272. 

i  Of.  'l'iguia'  for  the  Almighty  in 'Adam.'  s  He  does  not  visit  Zaccheus,  however. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  73 

Children  strew  branches  and  garments  before  him,  singing  Gloria  and  Laus.  Now  the 
Pharisee  invites  him  to  dinner.  He  accepts,  and  the  Pharisee  urges  his  servants  to 
hasten  the  preparations^ 

Mary  Magdalene^  sings  in  Latin  of  the  joys  of  this  world,  and  seeks  the  merchant 
with  her  girl  companions  to  buy  for  herself  ointment.    The  merchant  oilers  his  wares 
in  Latin.     Mary  sings  a  German  love  son--  with  the  chorus: 
Seht  mien  an,  junge  man, 
Lat  mich  en  gevallen. 
She  now  enters  I  he  house,  and  an  angel  announces  to  her  that  Jesus,  the  Nazarene,  who 
forgives  the  sins  of  the  people,  is  dining  with  Simon.    She  rises,  and  again  sings  her 
song  of  the  delights  of  lite,    "  Mundi  delectatio  dulcis  est  el  grata,"  etc.   A  lover  enters, 
whom  Mary  salutes.    They  converse,  then  Mary  sings  to  the  girls  : 
Koufe  wir  die  varwe  da, 
Die  uns  machen  schoene  unde  wolgetane. 
She  now  appeals  again  to  the  merchant,  who  tenders  his  wares  this  time  in  German. 
The  ointment  purchased,  she  again  enters  the  house,  and  the  angel  meets  her  as  before, 
and  disappears.     She  rises  once  more  and  repeats  her  song  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
world,  then  falls  asleep,  and  the  angel  appearing  repeats  his  song  of  Jesus  who  for- 
gives sinners. 

Mary  awakes  and  breaks  into  lamentation  :  "  Heu  vita  praeterita,  vita  plena  malis," 
etc. 

The  angel  appears  and  says :  "  I  declare  unto  you  that  there  is  joy  in  Heaven  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth." 

Mary  scorns  her  secular  garb  and  lays  aside  her  robes,  putting  on  a  black  garment. 
The  lover  and  the  devil  retire. s  She  goes  again  to  the  merchant,  seeking  precious 
ointment,*  which  the  merchant  sells  her  for  a  talent  of  gold. 

The  chorus  sings :  "  Accessit  ad  pedes."  = 

Mary  now  enters  the  house  of  Simon,  and,  weeping,  approaches  Jesus.  As  she  anoints 
his  feet  she  sings  one  stanza  in  Latin,  followed  by  two  in  German.  The  Pharisee  utters 
the  well-known  words,  and  Judas  bewails  the  waste.  Jesus  declares  the  work  a  good 
one,  addresses  to  Simon  Peter  his  question  about  the  debtors,  asking  which  of  those  for- 
given would  love  the  more.  Peter  replies,  and  Christ  announces  to  Mary  the  forgive- 
ness of  her  sins.    Mary,  at  this,  retires  lamenting  : 

Awe,  awe  daz  ich  ie  wart  geborn. 

Jesus  now  departs  to  raise  Lazarus  and  is  met  by  the  sisters,^  wailing  for  their  brother. 
There  is  no  expansion  of  the  Biblical  narrative.  The  incident  closes  with  "  Lazare,  veni 
foras,"7  after  which  there  is  a  chant  by  the  clergy. 

Judas,  meanwhile,  hastens  to  the  priests  exclaiming,  "O  Pontifices,  o  viri  magni 
consilii,  Iesum  volo  nobis  tradere."  The  bargain  is  struck,  the  sign  is  agreed  upon,  and 
the  Jews  follow  Judas  with  swords  and  lights. 


i  This  requires  four  stations,  beginning  at  the  sea-shore.  Peter  and  Andrew  appar- 
ently follow  Christ  to  the  house  of  the  Pharisee.  He  crosses  the  boundary  and  sits 
down. 

2  Evidently  rises  from  her  place  and  advances  to  the  merchant's  station. 

3  It  would  seem  that  the  lover  has  been  sitting  in  the  house  since  his  first  entrance, 
although  he  has  said  nothing-.    The  devil  is  hard  to  account  for. 

■»  It  is  there  supposed  that  some  time  has  elapsed,  and  that  her  precious  purchase  is 
exhausted. 

s  An  evidence  of  intimate  connection  with  the  service. 

6  Evidently  Mary  withdrew  to  join  her  sister  in  the  Bethany  station.  Such  examples 
of  preparation  for  future  situations  are  comparatively  rare. 

i  Lazarus  probably  did  not  appear  upon  the  stage.  The  symbolic  nature  of  this  inci- 
dent illustrates  the  intimacy  existing  between  the  symbolism  of  the  ritual  and  the 
realism  of  the  play.  In  the  six  lines  given  to  the  scene,  three  are  chanted  by  the  clergy: 
it  is  practically  a  leaf  of  the  church  service  slipped  into  the  drama,  and  seems  to  have 
satisfied  author  and  audience,  although  the  motived  utterance,  "Lazare,  veni  foras," 
leads  to  no  issue. 

Trans.  Conn.  Acad.,  Tol.  IX.  October,  1892. 


74  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Meanwhile,  Jesua  does  'as  is  the  custom  at  a  feast.''  Now  be  takes  lour  disciples, 
ascends  Mount  Olivet,  and  enacts  this  scene  in  the  words  of  the  Biblical  narrative.  The 
.lews  appear,  and  Jesus  asks :  "Quem  quaeritis?"  They  reply:  "lesum  Nazarenum.' 
lies  :  "  Ego  sum,"  and  the  crowd  falls  back.  When  he  is  taken,  all  the  apostles 
except  Peter  and  Judas  leave  him.  Peter  forthwith  denies  him  twice.  The  priests 
chant  appropriate  Bible  verses.  Jesus  is  led  to  Pilate,  then  to  Herod  who  clothes  him  in 
white  and  returns  him  to  Pilate.  The  action  passes  on  in  the  fewest  words  possible  till 
Jesus  is  led  out  for  scourging,s  when  he  is  clad  in  purple  and  crowned  with  thorns. 
Pilate  says:  "Bcce  homo."  The  .lews  cry:  "Cruciflge,  cruciflge  eum."  The  dialogue 
in  short  Bible  verses  continues  until  Pilate  washes  his  hands,  and  Jesus  is  led  away  for 
crucifixion. 

Now. Judas  comes  penitent,  weeping,  to  the  priests,  who  reject  him.  The  devil  ap- 
pears and  persuades  him  to  hang  himself. s 

The  women  follow  Jesus. >  weeping.  lie  is  placed  upon  the  cross  and  the  title  affixed: 
"Iesus  Na/.arenus  Hex  ludseorum."  The  Jews  object,  and  Pilate  answers:  "Quod 
Bcripsi  scripsi." 

The  Virgin  now  enters  with  John  and,  lamenting,  beholds  the  crucified.  "Awe,  awe" 
mich  hint  unde  immer  me  "  begins  the  lamentation  of  Mary,  so  similar  to  those  of 
earlier  date  This  is  continued  in  Latin,  as,  smiting  her  breast,  she  addresses  the  weep- 
ing  women.  She  com  hides  by  embracing  John  and  speaking'  eight  lines  while  holding 
him  in  her  arms,  concluding: 

Immolemus  intimas 
Lacrimorum  victimas 
Christo  morienti. 

The  direction  here  reads :  "  Et  per  horam  quiescat  sedendo,"6  after  which  she  again  rises, 
addresses  John,  and  John  replies.  Jesus  now  says,  while  John  supports  the  Virgin: 
"Mulier,  ecce  Alius  tuns,"  and  to  John:  "Ecce  mater  tua." 

John  and  Mary  withdraw  from  the  cross."  Jesus  thirsts,  tastes  the  vinegar  ami  cries, 
"It  is  finished."  Longinus  appears  and  pierces  Christ's  side.  Jesus  cries:  "Eli,  Eli, 
lamina  eabacthani,"  and  expires.     Longinus  gives  his  testimony  in  Latin  and  German. 

Vere  lilius  Dei  erat  iste. 
Dirre  is  des  waren  Gotes  sun, 
adding-, 

Er  hat  zeichen  an  mir  getan 
Wan  ich  min  sehen  wider  han,s 

while  the  Jews  tarry  to  see  whether  Elias  will  come  to  help  him,  and  one  closes  the 
scene  with -.    "Alios  salvos  fecit,  se  ipsum  non  potest  salvum  facere." 

An  epilogue  of  sixteen  German  verses  closes  the  play:  of  these  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
Bings  the  first  eight,  and  Pilate  concludes  the  song. 


i. iesus  must  have  returned  to  the  Jerusalem  station,  adjoining  which  Mount  Olivet 
was  probably  situated.  This  bye-play  during  the  performance  of  a  leading  action  is 
very  rare  in  these  early  plays. 

i Since  the  mocking,  though  brief,  is  represented,  it  is  probable  that  the  scourging 
was  also. 

a  Compare  with  the  appearance  of  the  devil  in  the  Italian  play.  p.  71. 

•*  In  the  former  play  Jesus  teaches  the  women,  p.  71. 

6  See  p.  81. 

6  This  must  mean  that  the  play  is  suspended  for  a  sermon,  the  priest  explaining  at 
once  the  whole  mystery  instead  of  interposing  his  remarks  as  in  the  Italian  play. 

i  Does  Mary  withdraw  because  of  the  improbability  of  her  silence  during  agonizing 
moments  while  others  carry  on  the  play?  In  the  Italian  play  she  swoons  at  such 
moments. 

8  Compare  the  Italian  play,  p.  73. 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 


75 


XIII 

THE   OUT-DOOR   STAGE. 

If  we  compare  the  above  abstracts  of  action  with  the  following 

sketch  of  the  open-air  stage  of  the  sixteenth  century,  as  found 
attached  to  a  MS.  of  the  fifteenth  century  Easter  Play,1  we  shall 
obtain  an  idea  of  the  use  of  fixed  stations  in  the  developed  cycle. 
sufficiently  clear  for  our  purpose. 


-)  &F=a   H=a    « 

visions  of  the  the  stage. 

11.  The  house  of  Annas. 

12.  The  house  of  the  Last  Supper. 

13.  The  third  door. 

11, 15, 16, 17.    Graves  from  which  the  dead 

arise. 
18, 19.  Crosses  of  the  two  thieves. 

ss  of  Christ. 
21.  The  Holy  Sepulcher. 
32.  Heaven. 


A,  B.  C.    The  three  d 

1.  The  first  door. 

2.  Hell. 

3.  The  Garden  of  Gethsemane. 

4.  Mount  Olivet. 

5.  The  second  door. 
t>.  Herod's  palace. 

7.  Pilate's  palace. 

8.  The  pillar  of  scourging-. 

9.  The  pillar  upon  which  stands  the  cock. 
10.  The  house  of  Caiaphas. 

The  three  divisions  of  the  stage  correspond  to  the  three  divisions 
of  the  church  :  the  nave,  choir,  and  sanctuary.3  The  action  begins 
in  the  nave,  and  passes,  station  by  station,  through  the  choir  into 
the  sanctuary.  The  distribution  of  stations  bears  some  relation  to 
the  sanctity  of  the  division.  The  cross  and  Heaven  are  in  the 
sanctuary,  Hell  is  in  the  nave.  This  remoteness  of  position  was  not 
objectionable  for  the  Inferno,  as  it  was  customary  for  the  devils  to 
make  excursions  about  the  stage  and  even  among  the  audience. 
This  we  see  in  the  Norman  play  of  Adam,  York  Plays,  etc.  They 
even  acted  as  police  within  boundaries,4  and  the  unlucky  wight  who 
crossed  the  line  became  the  prey  of  the  devils,  to  the  amusement  of 
the  audience. 

In  regard  to  the  genesis  of  the  out-door  stage  for  the  mystery 
plays,  I  cannot  agree  with  Mone,8  who  derives  the  scaffold  from  the 


i  Mone,  vol.  2,  p.  1.56.  -  <  !p.  Julleville.  vol.  1,  p.  392. 

3  Cp.  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  393.    At  Rouen  in  1474,  paradise  was  in  the  east  or  sanctuary 
end  of  the  church.  *  Mone,  vol.  2.  p.  129.  s  Mone,  vol.  2,  p.  159. 


76  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

remains  of  the  Roman  amphitheater,  then  existing  in  France.  This 
theory,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  founded  upon  two  misconceptions  : 
first,  that  the  German  plays  were  later  than  the  French  and  bor- 
rowed from  them  ;  but  we  have  found  them  of  about  the  same  date, 
and,  while  slower  of  development,  not  by  any  means  servile  imita- 
tions of  the  French  ;  secondly,  that  the  French  plays  were  survivals 
of  the  Roman,  a  favorite  theory  with  the  French,  but  now  rejected 
by  their  most  careful  writers,  except  so  far  as  it  applies  to  the  early, 
unformed  comedy.  On  the  contrary,  the  form  of  the  stage,  its 
traditions  and  customs,  point  directly  to  the  platform  within  the 
church.  When  the  plays  were  taken  out  of  the  church,  whether 
because  of  clerical  prohibition,  into  which  we  will  look  shortly,  or 
because  space  was  too  limited  for  the  crowds  and  the  platform,  or 
for  other  reasons,  the  stage  was  simply  transplanted,  and  suffered 
change  no  more  rapidly  than  the  developing  plays  demanded. 

I  am  aware  that  we  cannot  fully  solve  the  problem  of  seating 
such  vast  audiences1  so  that  all  could  see  and  hear.  It  is  very 
possible  that  all  the  audience  did  not  have  favorable  positions. 
Such  conditions  have  existed  at  anniversary  meetings  and  foot-ball 
games  without  seriously  diminishing  the  audience.  Yet  a  familiar 
play,  upon  a  platform  erected  in  a  public  square  surrounded  by 
houses  whose  roofs2  and  windows  would  furnish  a  favorable  outlook 
for  many,  could  be  seen  satisfactorily  by  thousands.3 

This  stationary  platform,  often  of  great  size  and  sometimes  of 
three  stories,4  with  Hell  beneath  and  Heaven  above,  and  crowded 
with  persons6  and  paraphernalia,  was  a  distinctive  feature  of  the 
continental  play.  To  this  the  English  cycles  presented  a  marked 
contrast.  The  gild  plays  of  England  changed  the  station  of  the 
continental  stage  into  a  movable  pageant,  or  platform,  and  instead 
of  calling  the  population  of  a  city  to  the  stage,  rolled  the  platform 
through  the  streets  in  orderly  succession  from  audience  to  audience. 


i  At  Reims  in  1490,  it  is  said,  there  were  16,000  spectators.— Julleville,  vol.  1,  i>.  100. 

i  A  portion  of  a  house,  upon  whose  roof  many  people  sat  as  spectators,  fell,  killing:  33 
men.— 1  loll  man, 2,  p.  243,  referring-  to  Fltigel,  Geschichte  der  komischen  Literatur,  vol. 
4,  'l'h.  S.  250. 

3  At  Lyons  in  1540  one  Jean  Neyron  erected  a  vast  theatre  with  balconies  and  boxes, 
where  plays  of  th"  <  >M  and  New  Testaments  were  acted  for  two  or  three  years  on  feast- 
days  and  Sundays.  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  35".  The  French,  in  the  15th  and  16th  centuries, 
built  boxes  for  the  aristocratic  spectators  and  placed  benches  for  others,  at  great 
expense,  which  was  partly  met  by  entrance  lees.— Julleville,  vol.  1,  pp.  401,  405. 

4  Not  immediately  over  each  other  necessarily,  but  with  Hell  covered  over  at  one  end 
of  the  platform,  and  Heaven  rising  at  the  other  end. -Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  388. 

s  A  Resurrection  Play  in  the  library  of  Lucerne,  MS.  date  1491,  employed  40  persons; 
one  of  Frankfort,  date  140S,  205  persons;  one  of  Seurre  on  the  Saone,  date  1496,  163 
persons.— Mone,  vol.  2,  p.  123. 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays.  77 

Of  this  movable  stage  T  have  found  n<>  trace  upon  the  continent, 
except  in  the  Jew  plays  of  Italy,  where,  <>n  wagon-stages  drawn  by 
oxen,  the  .lew  in  effigy  was  mocked,  tormented,  ami  finally  burned,1 
and  in  the  representations  upon  chariots,  given  by  the  Basoche  in 
the  provinces,  but  unknown  in  Paris.3 


XIV. 
EVIDENCES   OF   EARLY   ITALIAN   AND    SPANISH   PLAYS. 

Sucli  aid  as  the  continental  plays,  prior  to  the  date  of  the  extant 
English  plays,  can  give  towards  the  study  of  the  English  cycles  has, 
according  to  my  knowledge,  been  presented  ;  not  in  its  detail,  which 
will  serve  better  as  illustration  when  taken  with  the  English  plays, 
but  in  the  general  outline,  as  showing  the  trend  of  development  in 
the  various  stages  of  advancement  and  severance  from  the  church 
ritual.  Our  reliance  has  been  almost  entirely  upon  the  French  and 
German  plays.  The  notices  of  the  Italian  drama,  prior  to  the 
"Devozioni"  that  we  have  outlined,  are  quickly  given. 

We  hear  of  Italian  plays  first  in  1244,  the  records  stating  that  on 
that  date  a  Passion  and  Resurrection  Play  was  presented.3  On  Whit- 
suntide and  the  two  following  days,  in  1238,  according  to  the  chron- 
icle of  Julianus,  Canon  of  Cividale,  the  Passion,  Resurrection, 
Ascension,  and  Outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit4  were  acted,5  form- 
ing a  cycle  of  no  mean  proportions.  But  already  other  portions  of 
the  Bible  narrative,  which  the  church  linked  with  the  Advent  plays 
as  prophetic  or  explanatory  of  Christ's  coming,  were  claiming  atten- 
tion, and  six  years  later,  according  to  the  same  authority,  the  Creation 
of  Adam  and  Eve,  the  Annunciation,  and  Birth  were  played.  Thus 
we  find  in  Italy  as  early  as  1306,  in  two  cycles,  probably  written  in 
Latin,  and  surely  played  under  the  direction  or  patronage  of  the 
highest  clergy,  the  principal  scenes  of  the  future  world-cycle  that 
should  extend  from  the  Creation  of  the  Angels  to  the  Last  Judgment. 

It  is  evident  that  the  mystery  plays  must  have  arisen  in  Italy  as 
in  France,  although  but  scanty  remains  of  the  liturgical  plays  are 
extant ;  otherwise  cyclic  dramas  so  early  as  1298  would  be  impossible 
of  explanation.     That  they  also  had  a  recognized  standing  in  the 

i  Klein,  vol.  4,  p.  239.         2  Julleville,  Les  Comediens,  p.  1:33.         3  Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  51. 

4  Evidently  the  Passion,  Resurrection,  Ascension,  were  considered  as  forming-  a  fitting 
introduction  to  the  Giving  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  which  the  celebration  was  a  com- 
memoration. Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  54. 


78  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Spanish  church  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century  is  proved  by  the 
code  of  Alfonso  the  Tenth,  of  about  1260,  which,  while  forbidding 
buffoonery  plays,  expressly  states  that  "  Exhibitions  there  be,  that 
clergymen  may  make,  such  as  that  of  the  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesns 
Christ,  which  shows  how  the  angel  came  to  the  shepherds  and  how 
he  told  them  that  Jesus  Christ  was  born,  and,  moreover,  of  bis 
appearance  when  the  Three  Kings  came  to  visit  him,  and  of  his 
resurrection,  which  shows  how  he  was  crucified  and  rose  the  third 
day."1  It  adds,  however,  that  these  should  be  in  the  cities  under 
the  eye  of  the  bishop  or  archbishop,  not  in  the  villages,  nor  to  gain 
money  thereby. 

But  in  Spain,  through  adverse  circumstances,  the  development  of 
the  play  was  arrested,  and  when  at  last,  in  1496,  the  early  dramatic 
type  for  Spain  was  set  by  the  Representaciones  of  Enzina,9  its  direct 
inspiration  was  the  Latin  pastoral  rather  than  the  liturgical  drama. 

In  Italy,  on  the  contrary,  the  influences  were  favorable.  Com- 
mercial cities  and  wealthy  patrons  fostered  literature.  Monasteries 
and  religious  brotherhoods  lavished  wealth  upon  their  Rappresenta- 
zioni,  in  some  respects,  it  must  be  confessed,  to  the  injury  of  the 
plays,  since  their  prodigal  expenditure  encouraged  spectacular  effects 
to  the  detriment  of  dramatic  power. 

In  brief,  then,  as  we  turn  to  the  more  specific  problem  of  the 
English  plays,  we  shall  look  to  Spain  for  little  assistance,  to  Italy 
for  much  ;  but  our  most  important  aids  will  be  found  in  Germany 
and  France.  The  French  church  plays  furnished  the  models  for  the 
liturgical  plays  of  England.  The  German  plays  will  afford  most 
instructive  illustrations  of  the  gradual  intrusion  of  the  Teutonic 
humor,  so  evident  in  the  York  and  Woodkirk  Flays. 

The  universality  of  tradition  in  ecclesiastical  literature  gave  rise 
to  uniformity  of  treatment,  and  to  the  choice  of  similar,  oftentimes 
of  the  same,  literary  motives,  throughout  the  Roman  church.  The 
result  may  be  monotonous  as  literature,  but  is  invaluable  as  supplying 
a  common  starting  point  for  national  literatures.  Upon  this  material 
the  folk-spirit  impressed  its  individuality.  In  the  changing  treat- 
ment and  interpretation  we  detect  the  compelling  influence  of  suc- 
cessive phases  of  thought.  From  this  vast  store-house,  as  from  a 
quarry,  the  later  generations  have  selected  according  to  their  needs 
and  fashioned  according  to  their  taste.  Here  the  students  of  mod- 
ern literature  stand  on  common  ground,  and,  viewing  each  several 
stream  on  its  divergent  course,  can  take  note  of  each  deflection  due 

i  Ticknor,  vol.  J,  p.  230.  2  Ticknor,  vol.  1,  p.  245. 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  /'/";/■■<.  89 

to  a  foreign  cause,  of  each  break  or  eddy  that  betokens  the  vexation, 

dubiety,  or  sudden  illumination  of  the  national  life  that  lies  at  the 
bottom  of,  and  is  faithfully  mirrored  in,  every  literature  worthy  of 
the  name. 


XV. 
THE   ATTITUDE   OF   THE   CLERGY   TOWARD   THE    PLAY. 

There  still  remain  for  our  consideration,  before  we  turn  to  England, 
the  question  of  the  divorce  of  the  play  from  the  church,  and  that  of 
the  status  of  the  writers  of  these  later  plays,  whose  number  is 
legion  and  whose  prolixity1  appals  the  reader. 

The  writers  upon  mystery  plays  agree  with  great  unanimity  that 
the  plays  were  driven  out  of  the  churches  by  the  disapproval  of  the 
higher  clergy.  It  is  stated  that  the  introduction  of  lay  actors,  of 
the  vernacular  speech,  and,  above  all,  of  burlesque  and  comic  epi- 
sodes, scandalized  the  devout  and  provoked  the  prohibitions  of  popes 
and  councils.  It  seems  to  mp  that  the  statement  is  true  only  in  a 
much  narrower  sense. 

In  the  first  place  the  plays  did  not  leave  the  churches,2  but,  in  their 
less  developed  ritualistic  form,  remained  a  part  of  the  service  until 
the  Reformation,  and  indeed  in  many  countries  or  sections  long 
after.  The  people  delighted  in  pageants,  masques,  and  shows  of 
every  kind,  and  the  church  did  not  yield  its  right  to  make  the  ser- 
vice attractive  by  tableau,  puppet-show,  and  liturgical  drama, 
although  such  plays  received  comment  less  often  than  the  open-air 
plays. 

If,  then,  these  plays  survived  in  the  churches,  it  must  have  been 
understood  that  the  clerical  prohibition  was  not  directed  against 
every  species  of  mystery  play,  for  no  play  within  the  church  could 
have  withstood  for  centuries  the  uniform  opposition  of  the  higher 
clergy.  A  glance  at  the  attitude  of  the  church  toward  plays  before 
the  mystery  arose  may  aid  us  in  understanding  the  situation,  for 
the  Roman  church  has  usually  kept  in  touch  with  its  earlier  tradi- 
tions. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  when  Tertullian  wrote 
his  De  Spectaculis,  until  the   tenth  century,  the  church  held  con- 


i  The  history  of  Joseph  in  the  'Viol  Testament'  fills  7000  verses.  Lea  Actes  des 
Apotres,  par  Arnoul  et  Simon  Greban,  is  given  in  61,908  verses.  The  Mystere  de  Sainte 
Marguerite  contains  10,000  verses.  2  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  78. 


80  Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 

sistently  a  condemnatory  attitude.  In  610,  at  the  second  council  of 
Braga,  so  in  813,  and  again  in  816,  the  councils  spoke  in  no  uncer- 
tain tone.  They  condemned  absolutely  the  performances  of  the 
Histriones,  Musici,  and  Mimi.  These  continued  the  traditions  of 
the  Roman  stage,  which  had  adopted  the  Greek  drama  of  intrigue, 
and  exhibited  realistically  what  the  earlier  drama  had  but  insinuated. 
The  Fathers  use  clear  language,  and  show  unmistakably  that  they 
condemn  these  because  they  teach  immorality  and  all  manner  of 
iniquity.  Indeed,  St.  Augustine  carefully  makes  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  mimes  and  the  comedies  and  tragedies,  "  the  latter  class 
being  at  least  free  from  filthy  language,  while  their  study  is  approved 
by  elders  in  their  scheme  of  liberal  education."  The  plays  of  the 
day  pandered  to  the  lowest  imaginations  of  man.  The  classic 
drama  had  been  relegated  to  the  closet.  The  attitude  of  the  broader- 
minded  of  the  clergy — of  those  who  did  not  consider  all  mental 
activity' a  sinful  waste  when  not  devoted  to  the  offices  of  the  church 
— was  a  reasonable  one,  distinguishing  between  lasciviousness  of 
motive  and  salutary  instruction  and  diversion  by  theatrical  repre- 
sentation. 

We  have  seen1  that  these  licentious  and  comic  plays  survived  until 
the  time  of  the  mystery,  and  that  in  France  they  formed  a  partial 
fusion  with  the  sacred  drama,  giving  rise  to  certain  abnormal  devel- 
opments, such  as  the  Feast  of  the  Ass.  When,  therefore,  Ave  find 
the  church  condemning  certain  plays  and  classes  of  actors  under  the 
names  of  histriones,  joculatores,  etc.,  it  is  necessary  to  infer  that  the 
same  classes  of  play  and  actor  are  meant  as  aforetime,  that  their 
intrusion  into  the  church  is  reprobated,  and  that  mystery  plays  that 
have  the  taint  within  them  are  condemned. 

In  the  northern  countries,  as  in  France,  the  popular  festivities  of 
the  national  holidays  continually  sought  expression  within  and  about 
the  church  edifice.  The  church  had  made  itself  the  centre  of  all 
communal  interests,  so  with  the  quickening  of  the  national  spirit  an 
expression  was  sought  within  the  walls  of  the  church  home.  But 
this  brought  irreverence  and  indecorum.  The  hobby-horse  in  Eng- 
land, the  Schimmelreiter  in  Germany  and  other  '  monstra  lav  arum  ' 3 
must  keep  out  of  the  churches.  This  will  explain  various  interdicts, 
and  will  serve  to  show  how  in  the  Middle  Ages  many  a  distinction 


i  Sec  ]>.  42. 

-  Inn  MS.  of  the  twelfth  century  al  Strasburg  is  a  drawing  of  a '  Ludus  monstrorum ;' 
it  is  a  puppet-show.  For  the  use  of  monsters,  dragons,  giants,  etc.  in  religious  proces- 
sions see  Magnin,  Eistoire  des  Marionettes,  pp.  61,  66,  213 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  81 

was  made  of  which  we  lose  sight  because  our  knowledge  of  their 
life  is  vague  and  general. 

The  primary  cause  for  the  departure  of  the  play  from  the  church 
must,  as  it  seems  to  me,  be  sought  for  elsewhere.  We  have  studied 
the  gradual  expansion  within  the  church  of  the  mystery  from  the 
rudimentary  play  of  the  ritual  to  the  independent  but  condensed 
cyclic  play.  Either  development  must  stop  here  or  the  play  must 
leave  the  church.  The  nave  could  not  contain  the  necessary  stage, 
nor  the  edifice  the  audience.  Great  numbers  brought  confusion  and 
disorder.  As  a  consequence  the  play  moved  out  of  the  church  into 
tlic  churchyard,  as  shown  in  the  Norman  play  of  Adam,  or  into  the 
open  space  about  the  monastery,  as  the  direction  "ad  januas  mon- 
asterii,,  of  the  Orleans  play1  indicates. 

Other  motives,  as  is  usual,  emphasized  a  tendency.  The  longer 
play  led  to  the  introduction  of  interludes  and  comic  scenes  to  relieve 
the  tedium.  The  development  of  devil-play  put  upon  the  fiends, 
through  the  traditional  license  of  devilish  behavior,  the  onus  of 
enlivening  the  people  when  wearied  by  the  continued  play.  Their 
language  might  be  plain,  and  to  us  blasphemous,  but  it  was  not 
lascivious,  and  often  contained  a  telling  moral  lesson.  If  we  make 
allowance  for  the  frank  realism  of  the  day,  we  must  accept  these 
plays  as  devout  in  nature,  with  the  purpose  to  instruct  the  people 
and  promote  religion.  Therefore  the  priests  could  encourage  them, 
take  part  in  them,  or  write  them.  They  could  be  made  the  vehicle 
for  sermons  upon  morals  of  which  the  instances,  especially  in  Eng- 
lish plays,  are  many,  and  the  papal  benediction  could  be  sought  and 
given,  as  was,  probably,  the  case  with  the  Chester  plays.8 

Furthermore,  as  the  commercial  spirit  grew,  the  concourse  of  peo- 
ple at  the  church  on  sacred  festal  days  offered  facilities  for  barter, 
and  booths  became  fairs.  These  festal  days  were  also  the  days  of 
the  mystery  play,  and  tints  in  England  a  connection  between  play 
and  fair  was  established  ;  not,  as  Warton  maintains,  that  the  play 
was  fashioned  to  draw  to  the  fair,  but  fair  and  play  depended  upon 
the  church  holy  day.  No  one  will  doubt  but  that  merchants  and 
monks  were  shrewd  enough  to  turn  both  to  their  advantage,  when 
once  the  connection  was  established. 


i  P.  51. 

2  The  text  of  prohibitions  is  given  by  D'Ancona,  Origini  del  Teatro  in  Italia,  vol.  1, 
p.  51.  Hoffmann,  vol.  2,  pp.  241-4;  Mone,  vol.2,  pp.367-8;  Wright,  p.  XII,  taken  from 
Hoffman.  The  subject  is  discussed  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  Christian  Ant.  under  Theatre, 
Actor,  closing-,  however,  before  the  rise  of  the  mystery;  Prynae's  Histrio-Mastrix  is 
important  for  clues,  but  the  author's  bias  must  be  borne  in  mind. 


82  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

XVI. 
THE   PUY. 

The  agencies  that  took  part  in  the  composition  and  representation 
of  the  plays,  after  they  ceased  to  be  liturgical,  are  many.  As  has 
been  shown,  the  church  did  not  take  an  attitude  of  opposition  unless 
certain  objectionable  features  were  present.1  Therefore  monkish 
and  other  religious  authors  often  wrote  plays,2  and  even  acted  lead- 
ing roles.9  Again,  monasteries  often  bore  the  burden  of  presentation. 
This  was  most  frequently  the  case  in  Italy.4  The  religious  brother- 
hoods5 that  spread  over  Catholic  Europe  as  early  as  the  twelfth 
century  were  oftentimes  the  promoters  of  the  mystery  play.  If,  as 
seems  probable,  the  craft  gilds  had  a  religious  origin/  or  assumed 
functions  akin  to  those  of  religious  brotherhoods,  their  connection 
with  the  play  is  easily  understood.  Through  connection  with  the 
craft  gilds  the  Meistersanger  of  Germany  also  shared  in  the  develop- 
mental history  of  the  drama.  Indeed,  Mone  attributes  the  downfall 
of  the  mystery  in  Germany — though  probably  other  agencies  were 
more  potent — to  the  prolixity  of  the  Meistersanger  plays,  involving 
the  introduction  of  so  many  actors  and  so  much  machinery  that  the 
unskilled  craft  players  could  not  successfully  present  the  action. 

In  France,  the  Puy,  that  shadowy  literary  academy  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  was  the  immediate  successor  of  the  clergy.7  These  Puys, 
semi-religious,  semi  literary,  were  very  numerous  in  the  West  and 
North  of  France.  During  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  they 
were  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  members  com- 
posed verse  in  her  honor,  but  in  the  thirteenth  century  the  influence 
of  the  lay  members  led  to  a  broader  literary  life,  and  they  cultivated 
zealously  the  religious  drama.  To  some  Puy  the  cycle  of  Notre 
Dame  is  attributed.  In  the  Puy  d' Arras,  it  is  believed,  the  comedies 
of  Adam  de  la  Halle  were  played.  These  literary  societies,  about  the 
fifteenth  century,  turned  to  other  lines  of  literary  activity,  to  morali- 


i  In  France,  the  play  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  clergy  in  the  twelfth  century,  but 
i hey  were  interested  in  it  even  in  the  fifteenth  century.- -Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  347. 

»  Julleville  gives  sketches  of  the  eighteen  known  authors  of  French  mystery  plays. 
Among  these  there  were  nine  religious  or  ecclesiastical  authors,  one  lawyer,  one  notary, 
one  physician,  two  valets  de  chambre,  and  one  princess.— Les  Mysteres,  vol.  1,  p.  314  11. 

s  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  367.  J  Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  56. 

s  Compagnia  de  Battut  i  of  Treviso established  1261,  Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  52.  Compagnia  del 
Gonfalone  of  Rome,  Hase,  |>.  18,  and  Ebert,  vol.  5,  p.  53.  Brethren  of  St.  Luke  of  Ant- 
werp, artisans,  Hase,  p.  18. 

s  Wilda,  (iildenwesen  im  Mittelalter;  also  Gross,  Gild-Merchant,  p.  175. 

v  Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  II".  It. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  83 

ties,  farces,  chansons,  chants  royaux,  etc.,  the  mystery  falling  to  the 
various  societies  of  confreres  of  which  the  Confreres  <le  la  Passion, 
of  Paris,  was  the  most  famous.  The  sources  and  makers  of  the 
English  plays  will  be  the  subject  of  the  following  chapters. 


XVII. 
PAGEANTRY   IN   MEDIAEVAL   ENGLAND. 

As  we  enter  the  English  field,  we  are  confronted  by  a  confusion  of 
names  that  is  bewildering.  It  would  seem  as  though  writei-s  classed 
everything  from  a  wrestling  bout  to  a  mystery  as  a  play.  Some  do 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  pageant  and  play  wrere  synonymous  terms.1 
So  little  regard  has  been  paid  to  classification  by  such  writers  as 
Warton,  f'ollier,  and  Ward,  that  the  student  cannot  trust  their 
conclusions,  but  must  patiently  gather  his  data  for  himself  at  first 
hand,  and  classify  them  as  his  conception  of  the  mediaeval  life  of 
England  becomes  clearer.  Gradually  he  will  perceive  that  society 
in  that  day  was  a  great  stickler  for  tradition,  that  the  custom  found 
in  a  given  city  in  one  century  probably  existed  there  in  but  slightly 
j  altered  form  in  the  next  century,  that  the  customs  in  a  given  city 
were  many  and  various,  and  were,  within  certain  limits,  sharply 
defined  and  kept  separate.  England  was,  indeed,  Merrie  England  in 
those  days,  but  she  went  about  her  amusements  as  though  they  were 
very  serious,  and  usually  very  thirsty,  business. 

It  would  take  me  too  far  from  my  theme  to  attempt  to  describe  all 
the  shows  and  plays  that  formed  part  of  a  city's  life  for  even  one 
year.  The  royal  entries,  the  ridings  of  different  social  or  religious 
gilds,  the  church  processions  in  which  the  laity  took  part  with  their 
pageants  of  tableaux,  their  giants  and  monsters,  the  plays  in  the 
churches,  by  the  craft  gilds,  at  the  entertainment  of  notables,  the 
setting  of  the  watch,  the  May-day  festivities,  etc.,  if  faithfully  por- 
trayed for  a  single  city,  would  fill  a  thesis,  and  give  a  new  and 
valuable  picture  of  civic  life.  If  to  this  we  add  the  direct  literary 
influence  of  France  upon  the  nobility  and  court  society  of  England 
at  a  time  when  England  and  a  large  part  of  France  were  politically 
one,  the  subject  of  amusements  in  mediaeval  England  assumes  vast 
proportions  and  becomes  exceedingly  intricate.  As  a  result,  writers 
upon  this  subject  have  failed  to  observe  distinctions  that  were  clear 

i  Collier  says  that  in  1502  pageant  was  only  another  name  for  a  play. 


84  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

to  the  people  of  that  day,  and,  still  further  misled  by  the  frequent 
use  of  a  single  favorite  name  for  different  species  of  amusements, 
have  included  in  their  discussion  of  mystery  plays1  much  that  was 
but  indirectly  related  to  the  matter  in  hand.  It  becomes,  then,  our 
task  to  attempt  to  disentangle  some  threads,  and  to  segregate  the 
plays  of  the  craft  gilds  which  were  presented  on  movable  scaffolds, 
or  pageants,  from  the  multitude  of  similar  but  not  closely  connected 
phenomena. 

I.     The  Pity  and  the  Gild  of  Parish  Clerics  in  London. 

We  have  noted  in  France  the  rise  of  the  Puy,  and  its  position  as  a 
cultivator  of  the  mystery.  England  at  this  tim  3  contained  many 
French  ecclesiastics,  and  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  we  found, 
./here  <■  fficient  numbers  were  congregated,  something  similar  to  the 
French  Puy  on  English  soil.  The  following  points  of  similarity 
seem  to  me  to  establish  at  least  a  strong  presumption  in  favor  of 
kinship  between  the  Puy  and  the  Gild  of  Parish  Clerks  in  London. 

These  are  characteristics  of  the  Puy  : 

1.  Date,  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries. 

2.  In  the  thirteenth  century  admitted  lay  members. 

3.  In  the  thirteenth  century  cultivated  the  mystery.2 

4.  In  the  fifteenth  century  abandoned  the  mystery. 

5.  Was  dedicated  to  the  Virgin. 

6.  Object,  the  cultivation  of  literature,  probably  music  also,  and 

sometimes  had  philanthropic  features. 

7.  Most  numerous  in  the  West  and  North  of  France. 

8.  Often  formed  of  parish  clerks  with  or  without  lay  members.3 

9.  Sometimes  given  to  playing  in  honor  of  Saint  Nicholas.4 

These  are  the  characteristics  of  the  Gild  of  Parish  Clerks  : 

1.  Incorporated  as  a  gild  by  Henry  III  about  1240.6 

2.  Formed  of  ecclesiastics  and  lay  members.6 

3.  Object,  the  cultivation  of  church  music  and  literature.6     It  had, 

also,  philanthropic  features.8 


i  Collier,  vol.  1,  p.  52,  considers  what  was  probably  a  French  shepherd  play  presented 
before  the  Queen,  a  French  woman,  a  mystery  play. 

2  The  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame  in  the  fourteenth  century  were  the  work  of  a  Puy.— 
Jullevillc,  vol.  1,  p.  U'li. 

s  The  Puy  de  l'Assomption  at  Douai  was  formed  about  11330  under  the  name  of  the 
Confrerie  des  Clercs  Parisiens,  called  'clercs  parisiens'  because  they  spoke  French.— 
Julleville,  vol.  1,  p.  119. 

*  As  the  Saint  Nicholas  of  Jean  Uodel  of  the  Puy  d'Arras.— Julleville,  La  Comedie,  p.  27. 

e  Hone,  p.  808.  f.  Survey  of  London,  ed.  1S42,  y.  64. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  85 

4.  Dedicated  to  Saint  Nicholas.1 

5.  Played  stationary  plays  at  Skinner's  Well.2 
In  1390  a  three  days'  play  at  Skinner's  Well.3 

7.  In  1400  an  eight  days'  play  al  Skinner's  Well. 

8.  Plays  attended  by  most  of  the  nobles  and  gentry  of  England. 

9.  In  1554,  feast  at  Guildhall  College,  with  singing,  playing,  and 

the  next  day  a  great  procession.4    . 

Among  the  points  to  be  considered  are  the  following  : 

I.  The  social  or  religious  gilds  of  England  are,  in  general,  a 
century  later  in  origin.     Thus,  to  cite  a  few  illustrations — 

1327.  Fraternity  of  Corpus  Christi  in  Skinner's  Company  in  London.* 

134S.  The  Gild  of  Corpus  Christi  at  Coventry.6 

1358.  The  Gild  of  Corpus  Christi  at  Kingston-upon-Hull.7  ,, 

1355.  The  Gild  of  St.  Mary  at  Beverly.8 

1378.  The  Gild  of  St.  Elene  at  Beverly.9 

II.  Their  plays  followed  continental,  not  English,  traditions. 

a.  They  were  stationary  plays  as  were  all  the  plays  of  France. 

b.  They  continued  three  and  eight  days,  as  did  the  continental  plays. 

c.  They  were  especially  patronized  by  the  nobility. 

One  might  venture  to  say  that  they  were  probably  in  the  French 
language. 

III.  The  most  marked  discrepancy  is  that  touching  the  patron 
saint.  On  the  continent  the  Virgin  seems  to  have  been  universally 
adopted,  but  the  Puys  later  did  not  hesitate  to  write  in  honor  of 
St.  Nicholas,  and,  finally,  after  the  opening  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
to  cultivate  profane  poetry. 

II.     The  Boyal  Entry. 

Nothing  illustrates  better  the  community  of  custom  and  literary 
standards  among  the  nobility  of  England  and  France  than  the  cere- 
monies observed  Avhen  the  King,  or  a  high  church  or  state  official, 
entered  a  city.  Indeed,  we  need  not  limit  our  study  to  England  and 
France,  as  the  same  customs  obtained  in  the  Netherlands  and  in 
Scotland.  Two  elements  of  the  royal  entry  concern  us  here,  the 
pageants  and  the  'riding.' 

i  Hone,  p.  208.  2  Survey  of  London,  p.  7 ;  given  as  1391,  p.  36. 

3  Survey  of  London,  p.  143 ;  given  as  1490  by  Hone,  and  1407  by  Pollard. 

4  Strype,  vol.  3,  chap.  13,  p.  121 ;  given  as  1651  by  Hone. 

s  Herbert,  vol.  2,  p.  299.  s  English  Gilds,  p.  232.  1  English  Gilds,  p.  161. 

«  English  Gilds.'p.  149.  9  English  Gilds,  p.  148. 


86  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

These  pageants  were  originally  stationary,  mute  mysteries,  placed 
upon  stages  of  elaborate  construction  along  the  route  which  the 
King  would  take  within  the  city.  That  these  shows  should  be  sta- 
tionary is  reasonable,  since  in  such  case  the  King  and  his  retinue 
need  be  detained  no  longer  than  they  wished.  That  they  should  be 
mute,  though  usually  indulging  in  pantomimic  action,  is  more 
strange,  but  of  the  fact  there  is  abundant  evidence.  It  will  aid  us 
to  understand  the  progress  from  pure  mystery  to  allegory,  if  we  con- 
sider somewhat  at  length  these  mute  mysteries. 

.1313.  A  mute  play  of  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ  from  Nativity 
to  Passion  was  exhibited  at  Paris  before  Edward  II  and  his  wife 
Isabella.1 

13  77.  At  the  coronation  of  Richard  II,  a  castle  was  erected  by 
the  goldsmiths  on  Cheapside.  Of  the  pageants  exhibited  two  are 
described  by  Herbert.3 

1420,  Dec.  1st,  In  the  entry  of  Charles  W  and  Henry  V  into 
Paris,  a  mute  mystery,  consisting  of  stationary  pageants  represent- 
ing a  connected  story,  the  Passion  of  our  Savior,  was  shown, — a 
bas-relief  of  living  figures  counterfeiting  a  bas-relief  of  stone.3 

1424,  Sept.  8th.  The  pageant  at  the  entry  of  the  Duke  of  Beau- 
fort into-'Earis  was  described  by  an  eye-witness  in  these  words  : 

"  Devant  le  Chastelet,  avoit  ung  moult  bel  mystere  du  Vieil  testa- 
ment, et  du  Nouvel,  que  les  enffens  de  Paris  firent,;  et  fut  fait  sans 
parler  ne  sans  signer,  comme  ce  feussent  ymaiges  enlevez  contre  ung 
mur."1 

1430.  At  the  entry  of  Henry  VI  into  London  there  were  many 
stationary  pageants,  some  with  verses  attached  and  some  where  per- 
sonages spoke.6 

We  have  passed  over  a  century,  recording  here  and  there  one  of 
the  royal  entries.  All  are  alike,  stationary,  mute,  and  representa- 
tion^ of  some  portion  of  the  Bible  story.  I  find  earlier  a  curious 
exception,  as  though  uniformity  of  custom  had  not  established  itself 
prior  to  1300. 

1293.  To  welcome  Edward  I  upon  his  return  from  Scotland,  the 
London  Gilds  held  a  procession,  with  what  appears  to  have  been 
moving  pageants  indicative  of  trade."  But  very  early  in  the  four- 
teenth century  the  type  became  fixed,  and  we  find  little  variation 
until  the  time  of  Henry  VI. 

Before  1430  the  pageants  had  been  taken  from  the  Bible  story, 
and  were   easily  recognized  by  all   in  their  conventionalized  form, 


i  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  188.         "-  Herbert,  vol.  2,  pp.  217,  221.        3  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  189. 
•»  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  190.         6  Fabyan,  pp.  603-7.  6  Herbert,  vol.  1,  p.  89. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  87 

but  now  we  find  that  other  subjects  are  crowding  in,  breaking  the 
sequence  of  the  story,  and  rendering  sonic  designation  necessary  to 
interpret  them  to  the  beholder  ;  for  this  reason  verses  were  attache)  1. 
But  when  the  necessity  of  choosinga  Biblical  theme  was  no  longer 
present,  the  artist  naturally  selected  some  subject  that  would  be 
complimentary  to  the  high  personage  in  whose  honor  the  pageant 
was  set  iij).  Affixed  verses  lie  could  not  easily  read,  so  the  compli- 
mentary address  to  the  King  arose,  or  a  laudatory  conversation  was 
carried  on  between  actors.  This  is  approaching  very  near  to  the 
borders  of  the  spoken  drama,  but  I  have  found  no  instance  of  royal 
entry  where  a  genuine,  spoken  drama  was  acted.  Further,  it  would 
seem  that  this  development  of  the  pageant  arose  earlier  in  England 
than  in  France. 

1431,  Dec.  2.  Of  the  entry  of  Henry  VI  of  England  into  Paris 
this  description  is  given  : 

"  Depuis  le  poncelet  en  tirant  vers  la  seconde  porte  de  la  rue  Saint 
Denis  avoit  personnages,  sans  parler,  de  la  nativite  Notre  Dame,  de 
son  mariage  et  de  l'adoration  des  trois  Rois,  des  Innocents1  et  du 
bonhornme  qui  setnoit  son  ble." 

1432.  Entry  of  Henry  VI  into  London  after  his  coronation  at 
Paris.     Allegorical  pageants  with  verses  by  Lydgate.2 

1445.  Entry  of  Queen  Margaret  into  London.  Seven  pageants 
with  verses  by  John  Lydgate.3 

1461,  Aug.  31.  Entry  of  Louis  IX  into  Paris, — "y  avoit  une 
passion  par  personnages  et  sans  parler,  Dieu  estendu  en  la  croix,  et 
les  deux  larrons  a  dextre  et  a  sinistre.4 

1461,  Sept.  20.  Entry  of  Louis  IX  into  Orleans.  Twelve  pa- 
geants, stationary,  laborers,  moral  virtues,  David  and  Goliath,3  etc. 

1498,  July  2.  Entry  of  Louis  XII  into  Paris.  All  the  pageants 
were  allegorical  except  those  of  the  Confreres  de  la  Passion  who 
presented  The  Trinity,  Abraham's  Sacrifice,  and  the  Crucifixion.5 

So,  fifty  years  after  London,  Paris  bows  to  the  popular  demand 
for  allegory. 

1514,  Nov.  6.     Entry  of  Mary  of  England  into  Paris. 

1515,  Feb.  15.     Entry  of  Francis  I  into  Paris. 

1517,  May  12.  Entry  of  the  Queen  into  Paris,  In  these  three  the 
subjects  were  allegorical.8 

1521.     Entry  of  the  Emperor,  Charles  V,  into  London. 

i  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  191,  quoting  Enguerrand  de  Monstrelet. 

2  Fabyan,  p.  603,  fol.  190.  3  Stow,  p.  385.  ■>  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  190. 

s  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  201.  6  Julleville,  vol.  2,  pp.  205-6. 


88  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

The  London  Drapers  resolved  to  have  no  Midsummer  pageant, 
1 ause  there  were  so  many  pageants  ready  standing  for  the  Empe- 
ror's coming  into  London,  but  they  afterwards  agreed  to  renew  the 
old  pageants  and  to  establish  a  new  one  of  the  Golden  Flees,  also  to 
bring  out  their  giant.  Lord  Moryspys,1  and  to  present  a  morys  dance.! 

This  item  furnishes  us  one  clue  to  the  absence  of  plays  by  the 
craft  guilds  of  London.  The  royal  entries  called  for  frequent  and 
costly  pageants  from  the  gilds.  These  pageants  were  preserved,  and 
refurbished  when  occasion  demanded  them.  A  cursory  reading  of 
the  gild  accounts  shows  that  the  pageants  and  ridings  were  felt  as  a 
heavy  tax,3  though  a  necessary  one,  and  make  it  reasonable  that  the 
gilds,  having  these  pageants  on  hand,  should  be  reluctant  to  build 
movable  pageants  also  for  Corpus  Christi  and  other  religious  or  civic 
festivities.  They  accordingly  used  their  stationary  pageants,  as  the 
Drapers  did  in  the  Midsummer  festival. 

1577.  Visit  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  Ghent.  Tableaux  vivants, 
allegorical,  with  address  to  the  Prince.4 

1578,  Jan  18.  Entry  of  Governor-General  Matthias  into  Brussels. 
Tableaux  vivants,  allegorical,  stationary.6 

1595.  Entry  of  the  Archduke  Ernest  into  Antwerp.  Allegorical 
pageants.6 

The  pageants  of  these  three  entries  mark  the  decay  of  pageantiy. 
After  the  allegorical  and  complimentary  pageant  had  established 
itself,  there  naturally  followed  on  the  part  of  the  artists  a  straining 
for  striking  effects  and  quaint  conceits.  All  sense  of  unity  was  lost, 
and  mysterious  or  grotesque  representations,  that  would  make  the 
vulgar  gape,  became  the  fashion.  The  custom  had  become  absurd, 
and  was  out  of  place  in  the  new  life  that  was  stirring  the  hearts  of 
men.     Our  latest  item  knits  the  old  to  the  new. 

1603.  Entry  of  James  I  into  London.  Ben  Jonson's  pageant  50 
feet  high  and  50  feet  long,  a  representation  of  the  city  of  London, 
with  verses  attached.7 


i  These  giants  were  a  necessary  adjunct  to  a  display.  They  were  sometimes  station- 
ary, more  often  movable.  Gog-magog  and  Corinteus,  otherwise  called  Gog  and  Magog, 
now  at  Guildhall,  are  relics  of  the  olden  time.— Hone,  pp.  262-270;  also  Magnin,  p.  61;  also 
Fabj  d,  i>.  603. 

2  Herbert,  vol.  1,  p.  455. 

3  Canterbury,  as  a  halting  place  en  route  for  the  continent,  would  have  suffered  a 
heavy  tax  for  pageantry,  but  avoided  it  by  entertaining  outside  the  city  walls,— in  a 
booth  erected  for  the  purpose  and  stocked  with  victuals  and  liquors  if  the  halt  were 
for  refreshment,  in  a  monastery  it  a  night's  lodging  were  desired.  See  Ninth  Report  of 
the  Royal  Commission  on  Historical  MSS. 

'  Motley,  vol.  :!,  p.  295.  6  Motley,  vol.  3,  p.  305. 

e  Sharp,  a  cut  of  a  pageant  is  given,  pp.  24,  25.  J  Sharp,  p.  4. 


Churl**  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


S'.t 


We  close  with  a  description  of  a  royal  entry,  Queen  Margaret's 
entry  into  Aberdeen  in  1511,  as  given  in  Dunbar's  'The  Queine's 
Reception  at  Aberdeen.' 

1.  The  burgesses  ride  out  to  meet  her — 

And  first  Bir  inctt  the  burgess  of  the  tout), 

Ricbelie  arrayit  as  become  thame  to  be, 
Of  quhom  they  chesit  four  men  of  renoun, 

In  gounes  of  velvot,  young-,  abill,  and  lustie, 
To  beir  the  paill  of  velvet  cramase, 

Above  Hir  heid,  as  the  custome  hes  bein. 

■2.  The  Procession  meets  her  at  the  gate. 

Ane  fair  processioun  mett  hir  at  the  Port, 
In  cap  of  gold  and  silk,  full  pleasantlie. 

3.  In  the  first  streets  were  many  pageants. 

Syne  at  hir  Entrie,  with  many  fair  disport. 
:it  hir  on  streittis  lustilie. 


(ft)  The  Salutation. 

Quhair  first  the  Salutation  honorabilly 

Of  the  sweitt  Virgin,  guidlie  mycht  be  seine  ; 
The  sound  of  menstrallis  blowing  to  the  sky. 

(h)  The  Magi  ;  The  Three  Kings  of  Culane. 

And  syne  thow  gart  the  Orient  Kingis  tbrie 

Offer  to  Chryst,  with  beuying  reverence, 
Gold,  sence,  and  mir,  with  all  humilitie, 

Schawand  him  King  with  most  magnificence. 

(c)  The  Expulsion  from  Eden. 

Syne  quhow  the  Angill,  with  sword  of  violence, 

Forth  of  the  joy  of  Paradice  putt  clein 
Adame  and  Eve  for  innobedience. 

((/)  The  giant  Emperor,  Bruce. 

And  syne  the  Bruce,  that  evir  was  bold  in  stour. 
Thou  gart  as  Roy  cum  rydand  under  croun, 

Right  awfull,  Strang,  and  large  of  portratour, 
As  nobill,  dreidfull,  michtie  campioun. 

(e)  The  Stewarts. 

The  (nobill  Stewarts)  syne,  of  great  renoun, 

Thow  gait  upspring,  with  branches  new  and  greine. 
So  gloriouslie,  quhill  glaided  all  the  toun. 

4.  After  the  pageants  twenty-four  maidens  singing. 

The  matter  is  summed  up  in — 

The  streittis  war  all  hung  with  tapestrie, 

Great  was  the  press  of  peopill  dwelt  about. 
And  pleasant  padyheanes  playit  prattelie. 

The  connection  of  the  tableaux  of  pageantry  with  mediaeval  paint- 
ing and  sculpture  would  form  an  interesting  and  fruitful  investiga- 


tion, but  would  cany  us  too  far  afield. 
Trans.  Coxx.  Acad..  Vol.  IX. 


1892. 

f/^  op  thb"^^ 


90  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

For  the  '  ridings '  a  word  will  suffice.  As  the  burghers  of  Aber- 
deen met  Queen  Margaret  without  the  city  walls,  so  selected  mem- 
bers of  each  gild  in  other  cities  went  out  wearing  their  liveries  and 
bearing  their  banners,1  and,  riding  two  and  two,  escorted  the  king  or 
other  dignitary  into  the  city  and  over  the  designated  route  to  the 
palace  where  he  was  to  lodge. 

The  Processions. 

The  Christian  church  probably  held  processions  from  the  first 
century.2  These  multiplied  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  modified  greatly 
many  other  customs.  Thus  the  royal  riding  and  the  procession 
simulated  each  other,  and  were  sometimes  combined  especially  in 
England  in  the  Procession  of  St.  George.3  Indeed,  in  many  places 
this  cei'emony  was  known  as  'Riding  the  George.'4  Many  proces- 
sions after  the  thirteenth  century  contained  one  or  more  pageants. 
These  were  carried  on  moving  pageant  wagons,  but  sometimes,  in 
place  of  the  pageant,  groups5  afoot  personated  characters.  Of  mov- 
ing pageants  the  best  illustrations  are  afforded  by  the  Lord  Mayor's 
Show  in  London.  Thus,  the  pageant  of  the  Assumption  was  borne 
before  the  new  Lord  Mayor  from  the  Tower  to  Guildhall,6  and  later, 
when  allegorical  devices  were  in  vogue,  many  elaborate  pageants 
were  devised,  of  which  the  descriptions  have  been  preserved.7  Of 
those  where  individuals  walking  personated  characters,  we  notice 
the  Whit-Monday  procession  at  Leicester,  where  the  Virgin  Mary 
was  carried  as  a  pageant  and  the  twelve  apostles  walked,8  and  the 
pageant  groups  at  Aberdeen."  The  pageantry  was  sometimes  very 
elaborate,  as  at  Dublin  in  the  Procession  of  St.  George,10  which  pre- 
sented the  Emperor  and  Empress  attended  by  two  doctors,  two 
knights  and  two  maidens  ;  St.  George  who  received  three  shillings 


i  Herbert,  (a)  The  gilds  of  London  bore  banners  of  trade  at  the  coronation  of  Henry 
IV,  1399,  vol.  1,  p.  90. 

(/*)  The  order  of  gilds  of  London  in  royal  entries,  vol.  1,  pp.  101-2. 

(c)  A  cut  of  the  procession,  vol.  1,  p.  129. 

(d)  The  citizens  of  London  met  the  king  at  Blackheath,  vol.  ],  p.  91. 
2  The  procession  was  greatly  developed  by  St.  John  Chrysostom. 

8 The  Gild  of  St.  George,  Norwich,  had  a  pageant  with  a  'riding'  in  procession.— 
HiiU'lish  Gilds,  l>.  447. 

•i  As  at  Leicester,  Kelly,  p.  38. 

e  These  groups  of tentimes  contained  beasts  of  wondrous  shape,  formed  of  hoops  and 
canvas  or  wicker-work.  6  Herbert,  vol.  1,  p.  457. 

'There  are  in  print  thirteen  pageants  of  the  Drapers,  eleven  of  the  Grocers,  and 
many  produced  by  the  other  companies  during  the  years  from  r>88-1091.  They  bear  the 
names  of  Thomas  Middleton,  Thomas  Jordan,  Thomas  Heywood,  etc.,  as  authors.— Her- 
bert,  pp.  334, 459  til. 

«  Kelly,  p.  7.  »  See  p.  98.  m  Hist,  of  Dublin,  vol.  1,  p.  109. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  St- 

four  pence  for  his  labor;  standard,  pole-ax,  and  swords  foi  tl  •  Em- 
peror and  St.  George  :  then  a  maiden  who  led  the  dragon  by  a 
golden  line;  four  trumpets;  the  King  and  Queen  of  Dele,  accom- 
panied by  two  knights  and  two  maidens  in  black.1 

III.  The  Corpus  Christi  Procession. 
The  most  splendid  of  all  the  church  processions  was  the  Proces- 
Bion  of  Corpus  Christi,  out  of  which  grew  in  many  cases'  the  craft- 
gild  plays.  The  church  fast  of  Corpus  Christi  Avas  instituted  by 
Pope  Urban  IV  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  1264, 
and  appointed  for  the  tirst  Thursday  after  Trinity  Sunday.  It  was 
endorsed  by  the  Council  of  Vienne  in  1818,  and  was  soon  celebrated 
with  great  pomp  throughout  Western  Europe.  Its  office  consisted  of 
hymns,  anthems,  responses,  etc.,  taken  from  the  figurative  portions 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  selected,  or,  at  least,  digested  into  form 
by  Thomas  Aquinas.  From  the  first  the  leading  feature  of  the 
celebration  was  the  procession  of  the  ecclesiastics  and  laity,  in 
which  all  civic  bodies  took  part,  with  tapers,  banners,  shields  of 
the  gilds,  and  after  a  time  with  pageant-tableaux  and  individuals 
personating  characters  at  tir>t  Biblical,  later  oftentimes  legendary. 
In  the  procession  the  lay  societies  preceded  the  host,  which  was 
followed  by  the  ecclesiastics.3  The  position  next  to  the  host  was 
the  place  of  honor,  and  we  read  of  many  disputes  among  the  gilds 
about  their  relative  positions.4  This  order  of  the  gilds  is  a  matter 
of  importance  to  us,  as  the  earliest  order  of  the  gilds  in  the  craft- 
gild  plays  was  doubtless  the  same  as  in  the  procession.  Thus  in 
many  towns  the  Mercers,  as  the  most  powerful  gild,  marched  next 
the  host — so  in  York  and  Coventry — and  the  Mercers  stand  last  in 
the  York  plays. 

i  The  Gild  of  St.  Elene  at  Beverly,  founded  1378,  carried  a  youth  clad  as  St.  Elene. 
An  old  man  preceded  him  carrying-  a  cross,  and  one  followed  hearing  a  shovel.  The 
Gild  of  St.  Mary  at  Beverly,  founded  1355,  carried  in  procession  on  the  feast  of  the 
Purification  a  pageant  of  the  Virgin  with  what  seemed  a  son  in  her  arms.  Joseph  and 
Simeon  accompanied  her,  with  two  ang-els  carrying-  a  candle-bearer  of  twenty-four 
lights.— English  Gilds,  pp.  148,  149. 

-  At  York  and  Coventry,  the  Chester  plays  were  connected  with  the  Whit-Monday 
procession. 

3  Shari'.  p.  165.  The  order  was,  however,  reversed  at  York.— Davies,  Y or k  Rec onls. o f 
the  XVth  century,  p.  217  :  also  in  Skinner's  Procession,  p.  no. 

4  153s,  June  2L  In  records  of  Aberdeen  complaint  of  hammermen  that  others  usurp 
their  place  in  the  Corpus  Christi  procession.— Records  of  Aberdeen,  p.  452. 

1554.    Another  complaint  by  the  same.    p.  457. 

See  the  quarrel  between  the  Weavers  and  Cordwainers  of  York.  The  Cordwainers 
refused  to  march  on  the  left  of  the  Weavers.  This  difference  was  a  matter  of  some 
year-'  standing,  and  the  Cordwainers  submitted  only  under  the  pressure  of  a  heavy  fine 
and  the  threatened  interference  of  the  king-.— Davies,  pp.  250-7. 


92  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

At  first,  presence  in  the  procession  may  have  been  considered 
evidence  of  acceptance  of  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation,1  to 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  rise  of  the  liturgical  play  was  due  ;a 
but  later  the  spontaneous  expressions  of  piety  did  not  satisfy  the 
desire  for  a  splendid  procession.  Accordingly  in  the  fourteenth 
century  the  Gilds  of  Corpus  Christi  arose,  which  took  the  procession 
under  their  special  care.  These  gilds  did  not  usually  foster  plays, 
and  were  indeed  in  some  cases  necessary  to  preserve  the  splendor 
of  the  procession  after  the  popular  interest  had  turned  from  the 
procession  to  the  plays.3 

How  early  pageant-tableaux  were  introduced  it  is  impossible  at 
present  to  state,4  but  it  must  have  been  at  an  earl}'-  date  and  in  close 
connection  with  the  royal  entry.  The  body  of  Christ  received  in  a 
sense  royal  honors,  and  it  may  be  that  at  first  stationary  pageants, 
a  marked  tribute  to  royalty,  were  sometimes  used.  It  seems  evident 
that  movable  pageants  were  carried  by  the  gild  in  connection  with 
the  gild  banner,  and  usually  bore  the  insignia  or  arms  of  the  gild  ; 
also  that  at  first  they  presented  a  connected  Biblical  story,  but  after- 
wards passed  through  nearly  the  same  developmental  stages  as  did 
the  pageants  of  the  royal  entry.  These  changes,  like  those  of  the 
royal  entry,  were  in  the  main  the  same  throughout  Western  Europe, 
although  the  intrusion  of  the  civic  element  doubtless  contributed  to 
local  variations.  The  records  do  not  enable  us  to  trace  these  changes 
so  clearly  as  in  the  royal  entry,  but  certain  evidences  are  found. 

1437.  The  village  of  Draguignan  gave  a  florin  to  the  manager  of  the  procession,  "A 
cause  du  jeu  que  chaque  annee  il  a  coutume  de  faire  a  faire  a  la  fete  du  corps  du 
Christ,  et  qu'il  ne  peut  faire  sans  aucuu  subside." 

Similar  entries  in  the  records  of  the  village  occur  until  1558,  May 
8,  when  the  following  explanatory  note  is  found  : 

"  Le  dit  jeu  jora  avec  la  procession  corame  auparadvant  et  le  plus  d'istoeres  et  plus 
brieves  que  puront  estre  seront  et  se  dira  tout  en  cheminant  sans  ce  que  personne  du 
Jeu  s'areste  poureviter  prolixiteet  confusion  tant  de  ladite  procession  que  jeu  et  que 

les  estrangiers  le  voient  aisement."5 

This  attempt  to  talk  while  walking  could  hardly  have  been  a  sue- 
cess.  The  spoken  play  was  probably  oratorical  rather  than  dramatic. 
These  so-called  plays  were  maintained  until  1615.  There  are  records 
of  similar  exhibitions  at  Bethune  from  1544.  In  the  'remonstrance' 
of  1549  there  is  a  list  of  the  tableaux,  showing  the  participation  of 


i  English  Gilds,  v-  LXXXV.  2  See  p.  13. 

s  As  at  York,  though  80  greal  was  the  passion  for  plays  that  the  Gild  presented  one, 
the  Creed  play,  once  in  ten  years. 

■i  Davies,  p.  328.  ■'  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  209. 


Charles  I)  avid  so)  i — English  Mystery  Plays.  93 

the  trades,  and  furnishing  conclusive  evidence  that  these  were  not 
spoken  plays,  but  unite,  whether  with  or  without  action  I  cannot  de- 
termine.1 

Early  in  the  fourteenth  century  gilds  of  Corpus  Christi  began  to 
rise  in  England.  The  fraternity  of  Corpus  Christi  of  the  Skinners 
of  London  dates  from  1327. 

"  This  fraternity  had  also  once  every  year,  on  Corpus  Christi  day  afternoon,  a  proces- 
sion which  passed  through  the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  wherein  was  borne  more 
than  one  hundred  torches  of  wax  (costly  garnished)  burning  light,  anil  above  two  hun- 
dred clerks  and  priests,  in  surplices  and  capes,  singing.  After  the  which  were  the  sher- 
iff's servants,  the  clerks  of  the  compters,  chaplains  for  the  sheriffs,  the  mayor's  sergeants, 
the  counsel  of  the  city,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  in  scarlet,  and  then  the  Skinners  in  their 
best  liveries. "'- 

1348.  The  Gild  of  Corpus  Christi  at  Coventry  was  instituted.  It  was  to  carry  eight 
torches  about  the  body  of  Christ  in  procession.3 

1349-50.  The  Gild  of  Corpus  Christi  of  Leicester,  which  contributed  to  the  most  splen- 
did procession  in  the  city  except  that  of  St.  George.* 

1408.  The  Gild  of  Corpus  Christi  at  York,  which,  after  the  separation  of  procession 
and  plays  in  1426,  became  responsible  for  the  procession. 

Before  1349.  The  Gild  of  Corpus  Christi  at  Cambridge,  which  held  a  procession  with 
pixies  and  shields  until  1535,  when  Dr.  Leigh,  deputy  to  Lord  Cromwell,  ordered  it  abro- 
gated. 5 

As  at  York  so  at  Coventry,  it  became  necessary  to  separate  the 
procession  from  the  plays.  At  York  this  was  done  by  appointing 
the  vigil  of  Corpus  Christi6  for  the  plays  ;  at  Coventry  by  bringing 
■the  procession  early  in  the  morning.7 

It  seems,  then,  that  shortly  after  the  confirmation  of  Corpus 
Christi  in  131jf  pageants  of  the  Biblical  story  were  introduced  in 
conjunction  with  the  banners  of  the  crafts.  These  at  first  were 
mute  mysteries  expressed  by  action.  In  a  short  time,  however, 
spoken  drama,  found  also  in  isolated  cases  in  France,  became  an 
established  custom  in  England.  A  spoken  drama  necessitated  fre- 
quent halts  by  the  procession,  as  it  was  impossible  to  act  satisfactorily 
in  motion.  Indeed,  connected  pantomimic  action  would  seem  im- 
possible in  a  moving  procession  ;  therefore  this  custom  may  be 
older  than  the  spoken  drama.  These  halts  prolonged  the  procession 
beyond  reasonable  limit,  and  were  avoided  by  transferring  the  pa- 
geants to  the  rear  of  the  procession.  A  division  of  the  procession 
immediately  arose  through  the  slower  movement  of  the  pageants, 
but  the  plays,  though  much  belated,  followed  the  traditional  course 


i  Cp.  p.  98.  2  Survey  of  London,  p.  87.  3  English  Gilds,  p.  232. 

■»  Kelly,  p.  36.  5  Masters,  p.  80. 

s  The  citizens,  however,  continued  to  hold  their  plays  on  Corpus  Christi  day,  and  the 
clergy  were  compelled  to  postpone  the  procession  until  the  morrow.— Davies,  p.  244. 

1  The  description  of  the  Corpus  Christi  procession  as  given  in  the  Popish  Kingdom 
illustrates  the  demoralization  of  the  pageantry.— Sharp,  p.  170. 


94  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

of  the  procession  through  the  city.     Such  seems  to  be  a  reasonable 
interpretation  of  the  facts  as  presented  by  the  records. 

The  Prevalence  of  Craft  Cycles. 

To  the  student  of  records  it  soon  becomes  evident  that  the  gilds 
considered  their  plays  a  great  financial  burden,  though  one  that  was 
usually  borne  willingly.  The  account  books  contain  frequent  items 
of  expenditure  for  the  plays  ;  the  regulations  provide  for  the  pay- 
ment of  pageant  money  by  every  member  of  the  gild.  These  plays 
were  a  matter  of  moment  also  to  the  city  authorities,  whose  records 
abound  in  regulations  concerning  them,  penalties  to  be  laid  upon 
every  craft,  owning  or  contributing  to  a  pageant,  that  does  not 
faithfully  discharge  its  trust.  Repeatedly  they  are  said  to  be  to  the 
city's  honor  and  profit,  showing  that  the  authorities  were  not  un- 
conscious of  the  advantage  to  trade  arising  from  the  influx  of 
strangers.  Frequently,  especially  at  York,  a  gild  that  has  become 
weak  is  released  from  the  charge  of  a  pageant,  and  made  contribu- 
tory to  one  according  to  its  ability.  So  numerous  are  the  references 
to  the  plays  in  the  records  of  city  and  gild  that  I  cannot  but  think 
that  silence  on  the  part  of  the  records  in  any  city  is  proof  that  such 
plays  were  not  maintained  in  that  city. 

It  is  necessary  for  an  understanding  of  the  mutual  relationships 
.of  these  cycles  of  plays  to  segregate  the  gild  plays  from  the  multi- 
tude of  occasional  plays  and  processional  shows  with  which  the  time 
abounded.  Fortunately,  the  task  of  cataloguing  the  towns  that 
maintained  such  plaj's  is  greatly  lightened  by  a  list  formed  by  Miss 
Lucy  Toulmin  Smith  and  published  in  her  edition  of  York  Plays,1 
and  reprinted  by  F.  H.  Stoddard.-'  This  list  may  include  all  the 
towns,  though  we  do  not  know  what  further  study  of  town  records 
may  bring  to  light.  It  surely  contains  many  plays  that  are  not 
gild  plays,  and  it  becomes  necessary  by  a  process  of  elimination  to 
determine  what  are  true  craft  plays. 


pp.  LXIV-LXVIII. 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 


95 


NOTES   ON   THE   PUBLISHED   LIST   OF   PLAYS. 

I.  "Aberdeen,  L442-1531.  [Candlemas  play,  Offerand  of  Our  Lady;  also  Corpus 
Christi  play,  9, 7.  10  pageants  named.] 

Iltn,  Ma\  L3.  Notice  of  appointment  of  one  Richard  Kintor.i  Abbot  of  Bon-Accord, 
an. I  notice  of  play  of  Balyblude  at  Wyndmylhill.a 

1442.  Thir  craftes  underwritten  sal  find  yearly  in  ye  offerand  of  our  Lady  at  Candle- 
mas thir  personnes  underwritten,  yat  is  to  say:— 


1442.     Aberdeen  Pageants.4 

The  Littistaris  sal  fynd, 

The  Empriour  and  twa  Doctouris  and  als- 

mony  honeste  Sijuiares  as  thai  may. 

The  Smythis  and  Hamermen  sal  fynd, 
The  Three  Kingis  of  Culane  and  alsmony 
honeste  Squiares  as  thai  may. 

The  Tal30ures  sal  fynd, 

Our   Lady,  Sancte  Bride,  Sancte  Helene, 

Joseph  and  alsmony  Squiares  as  thai  may. 

The  Skynnares  sal  fynd 

Twa  Bischopes,  four  Angels,  and  alsmony 

honeste  Squiares  as  they  may. 


The  Wobstares  and  AValkares  sal  fynd 
Syruion  and  his  disciples  and  alsmony  hon- 
este Squiares,  etc. 
Tin-  (  ordonares  sal  fynd 
The  Messyngear  and  Moyses  and  alsmony 
honeste  Squiares,  etc. 
The  Fleschowares  sal  fynd 
Twa  or  four  Wodmen  and  alsmony  honeste 
Squiares. 

The  Brethren  of  the  Gilde  sal  fynd 
The  Knyghtes  in  harnace  and  Squiares  hon- 
estly arait;  etc. 
The  Baxtaris  sal  fynd 
The  Menstrals  and  alsmony  honeste 
Squiares,  etc. 


1549.     Bethune  Pageants. :i 

Lingiers.    L'Annonciation,  2  personnes. 
Viessiers.    La  Visitation,  2  personnes. 
Tanneurs,  cordouaniers.   LaNativite,  5  per- 
sonnes, Les  trois  Roix,  6  personnes. 
Chavettiers.    Les  Innocents,  12  personnes. 
Parmentiers.    Purification,  7  personnes. 
Marehands  et  crocqueteurs  de  gres. 
Tentation,  6  personnes. 
Marehands  de  ble.    Entree  a  Jerusalem,  16 
personnes. 

Drapiers.    Resurrection  du  Lazaire,  8  per- 
sonnes. 

Confreres  de  Dieu  et  Mgr.  Saint  Jacques 
La  ( Ihesne,  13  personnes. 
Voiaige  de  Emaiix. 

Barbiers.    Jardin  d'oliviei-,  8  personnes. 
Porteurs  au  sac.     Prise  de  Jesus,  30  per- 
sonnes. Dieu  portant  sa  croix,  20  personnes. 

Cordiers,  cailliers.  Comment  N-S.  f  ut  mene 

devant  Anne,  5  personnes. 

Dechargeurs.  Les  deniers  que  Judas  reeeut, 

5  personnes. 

Bouchyers.      Comment   Judas   se    pendit. 

Jesus  mene  devant  Cai'phe,  et  Herode,  16 

personnes. 

Feronniers.„  candreliers,    maricaulx    esta- 

miers,    orphevres.       Comment    Dieu    fut 

battu  a  l'estacq,  12  personnes. 

Taverniers,  brasseurs.    Ecce  homo.    Pilate 

lavant  ses  mains,  12  personnes. 

Merchiers,  .iulliers.     Comment   Jesus   fut 

cloie  a  la  croix,  18  personnes.    Ysaulde  for- 

geant  les  cloux  Dieu,  2  personnes. 

Tainturiers,  satiniers.    Crucifiment,  a  plus- 

ieurs  personnes. 

Cettlx  de  la  poterne.      Le  Limbe,  7  per- 


i  Merchant  and  Craft  Guilds,  p.  19. 

"- 1  )n  (  oi  pus  Christi  day  the  procession  was  under  the  direction  of  the  Abbot  of  Bon- 
Accord,  later  under  that  of  Robin  Hood.  A  fusion  of  May-day  and  Corpus  Christi 
seems  probable.  Wyndmylhill,  later  Womanhill,  seems  to  have  been  a  play-field  like 
that  at  Edinburgh. 

3  Julleville,  vol.  2,  pp.  212-13. 

••  Records  of  Aberdeen,  p.  432;  also,  Merchant  and  Craft  Guilds,  p.  49. 


96  Charles  Davidson — Engl! sit  Mystery  Plays. 

1442.     Aberdeen  Pageants.  1549.     Bethune  Pageants. 

Poissoniers.  Descente  de  la  croix,  8  per- 
sonnes. 

Hugiers,  marchands  de  bois,  cuveliers.  Le 
sepulcre,  8  personnes. 

Foullons,  tistran  de  drap,  pareurs  de  laine. 
La  Resurrection,  5  personnes. 
Fourniers.      Les   trois   Maries  et   l'Ange. 
Jesus  en  conforme  de  ung  jardinier,  4  per- 
sonnes. 

Compaignons  du  pourpoin. 
La  remonstrance  des   Patouriaux,  5  per- 
sonnes. 

Tappiers  de  velours,  tisserans  de  toille. 
L'incredulite  de  saint  Thomas,  12  personnes. 
Paintres.  Les  quatre  Evangelistes,  et  saint 
Jerosme. 

Wantiers,  mai-chands  de  laine.  Le  Juge- 
ment  a  plusieurs  personnes. 

A  comparison  of  the  Aberdeen  pageants  with  those  of  Bethune 
reveals  instantly  a  kinship,  yet  the  Bethune  pageants  were  a 
'  mystere  mime.'  We  are  forced  to  conclude  that  French  influ- 
ence was  exerted  in  the  cities  of  Scotland  upon  their  plays  as  well 
as  upon  their  municipal  government,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
this  French  series  of  tableaux  is  a  direct  descendant  of  those  that 
antedate  the  tableaux  of  Aberdeen,  and  that  the  Aberdeen  pageants 
have  their  direct  antecedents  in  France  and  not  in  England.1  It  is 
stated  that  there  were  at  Bethune  twenty-eight  pageant  wagons.  It 
is  probable  that  the  pageant  of  the  Fleshers  of  Aberdeen  and  the 
succeeding  ones  were  not  carried  ;  the  remainder  were,  as  we  read 
(1531)  "and  tua  of  ilke  craft  to  pass  with  the  pageant  that  thair 
furnyss  to  keip  thair  geir."a 

In  these  processional  tableaux  we  have  evidence  of  the  intrusion 
of  allegory,  as  in  the  royal  entry.3  The  Bethune  series  is  still  a 
cycle  of  mysteries,  but  in  the  Aberdeen  plays,  although  more  than 
a  century  older,  the  tableaux  no  longer  have  any  connection,  and  we 
find,  a  century  later,  that  a  representation  of  the  legends  of  the 
saints  has  almost  excluded  Biblical  themes. 

L531,  May  22.    The  craftis  are  chargit  to  furneiss  thair  panzeanis  vnder  written  :— 
The  flescharis,  Sanct  Bestian  and  his  Tormentouris. 
The  barbouris,  Sanct  Lowrance  and  his  Tormentouris. 
The  skynnaris,  Sanct  Stewin  and  his  Tormentouris. 
The  cordinaris,  Sanct  Martyne. 

i  A  curious  survival  of  Candlemas  pageantry  in  Yorkshire  is  found  in  the  Bishop 
Blaize  Festival.  At  Bradford  in  1825  the  procession  contained  a  King,  Queen,  Jason, 
Princess  Medea,  Bishop  Blaize  and  chaplain,  and  shepherds.  The  pageantry  is  supposed 
to  refer  to  the  woolen  industry.— Old  Yorkshire,  vol.  2,  pp.  151-4. 

*  Records  of  Aberdeen,  p.  433.  s  Cp.  p.  87. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  97 

The  tailzeouris,  the  Coronatioun  of  our  Lady. 

Litstaris,  Sanc<  Nicholes. 

Wbbstaris,  waloaris,  and  bonet  makaris,  Saint  John. 

Baxtaris,  Sanct  Georg. 

Wrichtis,  messonis,  selateris,  and  cuparis,  The  Kcsurrcctioun. 

The  smithis  and  hammirmen  to  furneiss  The  Bearmen  of  the  Croce.i 

The  impossibility  of  forming  a  connected  play  out  of  these  tableaux 
is  sufficiently  evident.  Many  other  references  to  the  procession 
might  be  given  ;  thus  in  1484  the  penalty  of  absenteeism  was  the 
loss  of  freedom  for  a  year,  i.  e.,  the  freedom  of  the  craft,  not  per- 
sonal freedom  ;  in  1531,  the  craft  that  failed  to  furnish  its  pageant 
must  pay  a  fine  of  forty  shillings. 

The  order  in  procession  was  established  by  the  city  fathers  and 
was  apparently  the  same  for  every  procession.  The  Candlemas  and 
Corpus  Christi  processions  are  sometimes  mentioned  together,  but 
the  regulation  of  1531  established  beyond  question  that  the  pageants 
were  for  Candlemas.  It  seems  that  on  Corpus  Christi  day  after  the 
procession  a  play  was  usually  performed  on  Windmill-hill.  The  play 
is  mentioned  in  a  regulation  of  1440  and  again  in  1479,  but  it  prob- 
ably changed  from  year  to  year,  and  was  under  the  care  of  the 
Abbot  of  Bon-Accord.     It  certainly  was  not  the  charge  of  the  gilds. 

II.  "  Bassingbourae,  Cambridgeshire,  1511  (Play  of  St.  George)".  Players  and  musi- 
cians were  secured  in  Cambridge.  Labor  and  materials  contributed  by  individuals  and 
by  twenty-seven  neighboring-  villages.2 

III.  Bethersden,  Kent.  1522  (Ludi  beatae  Christina?).  Evidence  not  published.  Prob- 
ably a  church  play. 

IV.  Cambridge,  about  13503  (Ludus  Filiorum  Israelis).  A  school  play,*  probably. 
William  de  Leune  and  Isabel  his  wife  gave  at  their  admission  into  the  gild  of  Corpus 
Christi  20s.  12  <J.  for  alms,  and  expended  in  Ludo  Filiorum  Israelis  half-a-mark. 

After  1544  there  were  many  plays.  In  1546  Jephtha  was  acted  at 
Christmas.  In  1564  Queen  Elizabeth  was  present  on  Sunday,6  Aug. 
6,  at  a  performance  of  Aulularia,  on  Monday  of  Dido,  on  Tuesday  of 
Ezechias,  which  was  written  by  Nicholas  Udall.  School  plays,  even 
when  on  Biblical  themes,  are  an  offshoot  from  the  mystery  play,  and 
should  be  kept  distinct. 

V.  Canterbury,  time  of  Henry  IV  (Play  of  Corpus  Christi  by  the  crafts).  Evidence 
not  at  hand.  Possible,  but  out  of  the  district  where  such  plays  were  in  vogue.  The  lack 
of  allusions  to  these  plays  is  significant. 

1501-2  (Three  Kyngs  of  Coleyn,  on  Twelfth  Day). 6  A  special  play  in  connection  with 
a  banquet  at  the  Guildhall.    Noteworthy  for  a  description  of  horses  constructed  of  can- 


i  Records  of  Aberdeen,  p.  451. 

-  Sharp,  p.  34;  also  Lyson's  Magna  Britannia,  Cambridgeshire,  p,  89;  also  for 
The  Antiquary,  vol.  7,  1883,  p.  25. 
Not  1355,  as  given  by  Stoddard. 

*  Retrospective  Review,  vol.  12,  pp.  7-11 ;  Masters,  vol.  1,  p.  5. 

•  Nichols,  vol.  1,  p.  186.  f-  Ninth  Report  of  Hist.  MSS.  Commission,  p.  197. 


98  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

vas  distended  with  hoops  and  laths  and  painted  after  nature,  at  a  cost  of  three  shillings. 
No  evidence  that  the  play  was  ever  repeated. 

VI.  Dublin,  15th  century  (cycle,  11  plays  known;  Corpus  Christi).  Pageants  for 
Corpus  Christi,  Dublin. i 

1.    Glovers.    Adam  and  Eve  with  angel  bearing  sword  before  them. 

:.'.    ( 'orrisees  (perhaps  curriers).    Cain  and  Abel  with  offering  and  altar. 

3.  Mariners  and  vintners.  Noah  and  the  persons  in  the  ark  appareled  as  carpenters  . 
and  salmon-takers. 

4.  Weavers.    Abraham  and  Isaac  with  offering  and  altar. 

5.  Smiths.    Pharaoh  and  his  host, 

6.  Skinners.    Camels  with  children  of  Israel. 

7.  Goldsmiths.    King  of  Cullen. 

8.  Hoopers.    Shepherds  with  an  angel  singing  Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo. 

9.  Corpus  Christi  gild.    Christ  in  his  passion  with  the  Marys  and  angels. 

10.  Taylors.    Pilate  with  his  fellowship,  and  his  wife  cloathed  accordingly. 

11.  Barbers.    Anna  and  Caiaphas. 
\2.     Fishers.    The  Apostles. 

13.  Merchants.    The  Prophets. 

14.  Butchers.    The  Tormentors. 

A  comparison  of  these  pageants  with  those  of  Aberdeen  and 
Bethune'  reveals  such  striking  similarities  as  compel  us  to  pro- 
nounce them  a  series  of  mute  pageants  and  not  a  cycle  of  spoken 
plays.4 

This  series  is  much  nearer  the  primitive  type  than  that  of  Aber- 
deen, the  only  breaks  in  the  story  appearing  in  13  and  14,  and  in 
the  introduction  of  the  camel6  in  6. 

Furthermore,  the  allusions  in  the  records  to  plays  and  Corpus 
Christi  processions  justify  this  conclusion.  In  1541  the  procession 
of  Corpus  Christi  was  followed  by  the  play  of  the  Nine  Worthies. 
We  read  of  no  cases  where  the  genuine  craft  plays  were  so  easily 
abandoned  for  a  new  play.  It  was  no  unusual  thing,  however,  for 
the  crafts  to  present  plays  on  festival  occasions  and  before  notables. 
In  1528  certain  crafts  acted  plays  during  Christmas  week  before 
certain  high  officials.6  The  plays  were  chosen  for  some  supposed 
reference  to  the  craft ;  thus  the  taylors  played  Adam  and  Eve  ;  the 
shoe-makers,  Crispin  and  Crispianus  ;  the  vintners,  Bacchus  and  his 
story  ;  the  carpenters,  Joseph  and  Mary  ;  the  smiths,  Vulcan  and 
what  related  to  him  ;  the  bakers,  a  comedy  of  Ceres,  the  goddess  of 
corn.  The  Priors  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  of  the  Blessed  Trinity, 
of  All-Hallows,  presented,  the  one  the  Passion  of  our  Saviour,  the 
others  the  several   deaths  which  the  Apostles  suffered.      It  would 


i  Hist,  of  Dublin,  vol.  1,  p.  110. 

2  Cp.  with  the  camel  in  the  pageant  show  on  Midsummer-eve  at  Chester.— Lyon's 
Magna  Britannica,  Cheshire,  pp.  5S3-4. 

s  See  p.  95.  >  Vs.  ten  Brink,  vol.  2,  p.  290. 

s  This  was  possibly  copied  from  some  spoken  mystery  play,  though  I  do  not  recall  one 
that  refers  to  the  camel.  6  Hist,  of  Dublin,  vol.  1,  p.  ins. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  99 

Beem  that  the  play  which  is  extant.  Abraham  and  Isaac,  was  such  an 
isolated  play,  and  not  one  of  a  cycle.1 

VII.    Dunstable,  12th  century  (St.  Catherine).    A  cloister-drama,  probably  in  Latin. 
VIII.    Edinburgh,  1503.  A  play  by  John  English  and  his  company,  being  the  players  of 
the  King'  of  England,  before  .lames  IV  at  his  nuptials  with  the  Princess  Margaret  at 
Edinburgh.!    The  records  say 

Dee.  1554.  The  "litill  farsche  and  play"  made  by  William  Lander  to  be  performed 
before  the  Queen. 3 

1558.  Payment  to  William  Adamsoan  lor  a  play  made  for  the  triumph  of  our  sover- 
eign Lady's  marriage. 

Payment  to  William  Lamb  for  setting  forth  the  play. 

Payment  to  all  the  writers  who  wrote  the  play. 

Payment  to  Patrick  Doran  for  writing  certain  plays.* 

The  Records  of  Edinburgh  are  remarkable  for  their  silence  con- 
cerning- -plays.  In  1503  an  ordinance  in  restraint  of  plays  was  passed, 
from  which  one  infers  that  English  innovations  were  not  viewed 
wholly  with  approval.  In  1554  the  city  built  a  play-field6  at  heavy 
expense,  and  there  are  several  entries  of  that  year  relating  to  plays.6 
Plays,  however,  do  not  seem  to  have  prospered  in  Edinburgh,  and 
evidently  the  city  had  no  craft  plays. 

IX.  "Gloucestershire,  16th  century.  At  Christmas.  A  kind  of  miracle  play  with 
the  characters  of  Herod,  Belzebub,  and  others."  Probably  a  mumming  in  character, 
surely  no  mystery  play.' 

X.    Heybridge,  Essex,  1532,  no  data  accessible. 

XL    Lancashire,  1S09.    A  mumming  similar  to  that  of  Gloucestershire. 
XII.    Leicester.  If"  (Passion  Play).     A  play  presented  by  certain  players  who  ac- 
counted to  the  city  for  receipts.    The  money  and  stage  properties  were  devoted  to  the 
support  of  the  processional  pageants.s 

1546-1571.  Church  plays  at  Church  of  St.  Martin  probably.  The  above  appear  to  have 
been  connected  with  the  "Reading  of  the  Passion  on  Palm  Sunday." 9 

There  were  plays  also  at  other  churches.™ 

St.  Mary's  church,  1491.  Paid  to  the  players  on  New-Year's  day  at  Even  in  the 
church,  vi  d. 

1499.    Paid  for  a  play  in  the  church  in  Dominica  infra  octave  Epiph.,  ii  s. 

XIII.  Lincoln,  1504  (Play  of  Old  Tobit).  An  occasional  play,  played  at  Broadgate  in 
July.    There  is  no  sign  that  it  was  repeated. u 

XIV.  London,  12th  century  (miracle  plays).  "  London,  instead  of  theatrical  shows 
and  scenic  entertainments,  has  dramatic  performances  of  a  more  sacred  kind,  either 
representations  of  the  miracles  which  holy  confessors  have  wrought,  or  of  the  passions 
and  sufferings  in  which  the  constancy  of  martyrs  was  signally  displayed."  12 

These  were  probably  Latin  plays  in  churches  and  cloisters. 

1  Modern  Language  Notes,  vol.  T,  No.  6,  p.  339  ff . 

2  Collier,  vol.  1,  p.  39;  also  Warton,  vol.  2,  p.  395,  note. 

3  Extracts  from  the  Records  of  Edinburg,  p.  206.  4  Dalzell.  p.  32. 

5  Cp.  with  Windmillhill  at  Aberdeen,  the  play-field  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and  the 
plain  for  sports  in  Cornwall. 

6  Extracts  from  the  Records  of  Edinburgh. 

■  For  text  of  a  similar  play,  see  Notices  of  Leicester,  Wm.  Kelly,  p.  53. 
-  Kelly,  p.  27.  » Kelly,  p.  23.  10  Kelly,  p.  14. 

11  Gentleman's  Magazine,  vol.  :4,  p.  103.  12  Survey  of  London,  p.  21 1. 


100  Charles  Davidson— .English  Mystery  Plays. 

1390,  July  18,  19,  20.  Skinner's  Well  (Passion  of  our  Lord  and  the  Creation  of  the 
World).  Played  by  the  Parish-clerk  gild.i  Probably  in  French  and  closely  modeled 
upon  the  plays  of  the  Puys  of  France.2    The  King-  contributed  10  ?.s 

1409,  Skinner's  Well,  lasted  eight  days  ('of  matter  from  the  creation  of  the  world'). 
By  the  same  gild.  The  eight  days'  duration  a  significant  link  to  continental  tradition, 
being  the  octave  of  a  church  holy  day.    Patronized  as  before  by  the  nobility. 

These  plays  of  the  Parish  clerks  hold  common  traditions  with  the 
French  plays,  and  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  other  cycle 
plays  of  England.  There  were  no  craft-gild  plays  in  London.  The 
constant  calls  upon  the  gilds  for  stationary  pageants  for  Royal 
Entries  and  for  movable  pageants  for  the  Lord  Mayor's  Show, 
together  with  their  many  processions,  seem  to  have  made  them 
averse  to  the  additional  expense  of  the  craft-gild  plays.4 

1464.  The  Holy  Trinity  Gild,  St.  Botolph  without  Aldersgate,  possessed  a  roll  con- 
taining the  pageants  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  St.  Fabyan,  St.  Sebastian,  St.  Botulf  and  'the 
terement'  (The  Burial  of  Christ),  '  paynted  and  lemenyd  with  gold.'s  These  were  in  no 
sense  mystery  plays,  but  the  roll  contained  a  description  and  representation  of  the 
pageants  which  were  carried  in  procession  by  the  g-ild. 

1557,  June  7th,  Grey  Friars  (Passion  of  Christ).  "The  sara  day  be-gane  a  stage  play  at 
the  Grey  freers  of  the  Passyon  of  Cryst."«  An  attempt  under  Queen  Mary  to  revive 
old  customs. 

1557.  Church  in  Silver  Street,  or  Saint  Olave's  Day  (Miraculous  History  of  Saint 
01ave).i  Played  from  8  p.  m.  till  12  at  night,  four  hours.  A  miracle  play  of  the  patron 
saint.  An  incident  in  the  attempt  of  the  lovers  of  the  old  customs  to  revive  them  under 
Queen  Mary. 

1603.  Elie  House  in  Holborn  (Christ's  Passion).  "  Witnesse  the  acting-  of  Christ's 
Passiou  at  Elie  house  in  Holborne  when  Gundemore  lay  there,  on  Good-Friday  at  night, 
at  which  there  were  thousands  present." s 

XV.  Northumberland,  1512  (Nativity  and  Resurrection).  Plays  in  the  Earl's  chapel. 
The  entries  of  the  Household-Book  are  interesting  as  showing  the  prominence  given  to 
plays  and  the  station  and  remuneration  of  players.  The  plays  are  examples  of  the 
multitude  of  occasional  plays  presented  at  that  time  throughout  England.  It  seems 
that  one  qualification  for  my  Lord's  chaplain  was  that  he  "be  a  maker  of  Interludes." 9 

XVI.  Paris,  France,  1313.  Special  performance  before  Edward  II  of  England.  A 
mystere  mime.io    If  such  are  to  be  listed,  there  should  be  added  : 

1420,  Dec.  1st.    At  entry  of  Charles  VI  and  Henry  V. 
1424,  Sept.  8th.  At  entry  of  the  Duke  of  Beaufort. 
1431,  Dec.  2nd.  At  entry  of  Henry  VI,  etc. 

XVII.  Reading,  1498-1557.  Evidence  not  at  hand.  Evidently  church  plays  such  as 
were  presented  in  every  prominent  church  in  the  kingdom. 

XVIII.  Shrewsbury,  1574  (A  stage-play  acted  in  the  High  Street).  A  play  by  the 
players  of  the  Earl  of  Essex. u  A  study  of  those  companies  of  players  that  were  coinci- 

i  Survey  of  London,  p.  7 ;  Hone's  Ancient  Mysteries,  p.  206.  2  See  p.  85. 

3  Notices  of  Leicester,  p.  29,  referring  to  Devon's  Issues  of  the  Exchequer,  p.  244. 

•<  It  would  seem  that  the  entry  in  Stowe's  Survey,  p.  7,— "Other  smaller  wells  were 
many  aear  unto  Clarkes  well,  namely,  Skinner's  well,  so  called  for  that  the  skinners  of 
London  held  there  certain  plays  yearly,  played  of  Holy  Scripture,"  etc.— were  due  to  a 
confusion  about  the  clerks'  plays  which  were  played  at  the  skinners'  well.  I  find  no 
other  reference  to  any  plays  by  the  skinners. 

6  Hone,  p.  PL  6  Machyn's  Diary,  p.  138;  Strype,  vol.  3,  part  2,  p.  6. 

1  Strype,  vol.  3,  part  2,  p.  6.  8  Prynne,  Histrio-Mastix,  p.  117. 

o  Percy,  p.  139.       10  Julleville,  vol.  2,  p.  188 ;  also,  see  p.  148.       u  Fosbroke,  vol.  2,  p.  665. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  101 

dent  with  the  decline  of  the  myateri  play  would  be  instructive,  bu1  foreign  to  the  study 
of  the  m\  sterj . 

XIX.  Sleaford,  1477.  Gild  of  Holy  Trinity  (Three  Kings  of  Cologne  on  Corpus 
Christi  day.  and  Play  of  the  Ascension).  Probablj  tableaux  with  explanatory  speeches. 
Possibly  full  plays     By  the  crafts.' 

XX.  Tewkesbury  .  1578,  1585.    Probably  church  plays. 

XXI.  Winchester,  1487.  By  alms  boys  (Christi  descensus  ad  inferos).  Played  bythe 
choir-boys  of  Hyde  Abbey  and  Saint  Swithin's  Priory  before  Henry  VII  on  Sunday 
during  dinner,  on  occasion  of  the  birth  of  Prince  Arthur. 2    A  cloister  drama. 

XXII.  Windsor.  1416  (St.  George  of  Cappadocia).s  To  entertain  the  Emperor  Sigis- 
mund.  Probably  a  dumb  show.  Belongs  with  the  pageants  and  plays  of  St.  George 
elsewhere  exhibited.^ 

XXIII.  Witney.  Oxfordshire,  16th  century  (The  Resurrection.  A  dumb  show).  A 
puppet  show  in  the  church. s  The  same  authority  refers  to  similar  shows  in  St.  Paul's, 
London. 

XXIV.  York.  Before  1384.  (Our  Lord's  Prayer).  This  play  when  first  presented  so 
commended  itself  to  the  inhabitants  of  York  that  a  Gild  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  was 
formed  to  maintain  it.  A  play  of  the  vices  and  virtues.  The  MS.,  delivered  to  Arch- 
bishop Grindal  for  criticism  in  1572,  disappeared.    Played  on  movable  pageant  wagons. fi 

XXV.  York,  1440.  ((  reed  Play).  Given  by  the  will  of  William  Revetor,  keeper  of 
the  Corpus  Christi  Gild,  to  the  jarilrl  with  the  condition  that  it  should  be  publicly  per- 
formed every  tenth  year  in  various  parts  of  the  city.  A  considerable  play,  since  in  1535 
the  gild  plays  were  omitted  because  of  it.  In  1508  it  was  sent  to  Dean  Hutton  for  exam- 
ination.   He  advised  that  it  should  not  be  played.'    Played  on  movable  pageant  wagons. 

XXYI.  Kendall,  Preston,  and  Lancaster.  (Corpus  <  Ihristi  plays  seen  in  the  reign  of 
James  I).  "They  call  this  Corpus  Christi  Play  in  my  eountrey  which  I  have  seene  acted 
at  Preston,  and  Lancaster,  and  last  of  all  at  Kendall,  in  the  beginning  of  the  raigne  of 
King  James."* 

An  anecdote  by  Rev.  John  Shaw,  1664,  of  a  man  sixty  years  old  who  saw  once  at 
Kendall  a  Corpus  Christi  play  where  there  was  a  man  on  a  tree  and  blood  ran  down. 9 

XXVII.  Cornwall,  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign.  (Guary  myracle  play).  A  cycle  of  three 
plays.    Played  in  a  circular  plain  prepared  for  the  purpose." 

XXVIII.  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  1426-1589.  Plays  undoubtedly  older  than  1426.  Plas'ed 
in  a  fixed  spot,  not  on  movable  pageant  wagons. u  The  pageants  were,  however,  carried 
in  procession  to  the  place  of  acting. 

XXIX.  Wymondham,  1549.  "This  was  doone  before  Midsummer,  and  so  it  rested 
till  the  sixt  of  Julie,  at  which  time  there  should  be  a  publike  plaie  kept  at  Wimondham, 
a  town  distant  from  Norwich  six  miles,  which  plaie  had  beene  accustomed  yearelie  to 
be  kept  in  that  towne  continuing  for  the  space  of  one  night  and  one  daie  at  least." 
Advantage  was  taken  of  the  concourse  of  people  to  foment  rebellion. 12 

The  list  as  analyzed  yield  the  following  : — 

1.-  Cycle  mystery  plays  by  craft  gilds,  on  movable  pageant  wagons, 
— Chester  (IV),  Coventry  (V),  Worcester,  and  York. 

2.  Cycle  mystery  plays  by  craft  gilds,  not  on  pageant  wagons,— 
Newcastle-on-Tyne  (XXVIII),  Woodkirk. 

1  Oliver,  History  of  the  Holy  Trinity  Guild  at  Sleaford. 

2  Warton,  vol.  2,  p.  394.  s  Collier,  vol.  1,  p.  20;  Marriott,  p.  xxvi. 
*  See  p.  90.  5  Lambarde,  p.  459. 

6  Toulmin  Smith,  p.  138;  York  Plays,  pp.  xxviii,  xxix  :  Davies,  p.  365. 

'  Smith,  p.  xxx  :  Davies,  p.  258 :  Register  of  the  Gild  of  Corpus  Christi,  p.  24. 

s  Weever's  Funeral  Monuments,  as  given  by  Sharp,  p.  133. 

s  Halliwell-Phillipps,  vol.  1,  p.  48.  10  Cut  of  field,  Borlase,  p.  197. 

11  Brand,  vol.  2,  pp.  369-379;  also  in  the  account  of  each  craft. 

12  Holinshead,  vol.  3,  p.  963. 


102  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

3.  Cycle  mystery  plays  by  craft  gilds,  mode  of  presentation  un- 
known,— Beverly. 

4.  Possibly  cycle  mystery  plays  by  craft  gilds, — Sleaford  (XIX)  (?) 
Preston,  Lancaster,  Kendall  (XXVI),  Canterbury  in  time  of  Henry 
IV,  Wymondham  (XXIX). 

5.  Cycle  plays,  not  mystery,  on  pageant  wagons, — York,  Our 
Lord's  Prayer  (XXIV);  York,  Creed  Play  (XXV). 

6.  Cycle  mystery  plays,  not  by  craft  gilds, — 

a.  By  literary  society, — London  by  Parish  clerks  (XIV). 

b.  By  wandering  troupe  (?) — Coventry. 

c.  By  the  parish  and  the  priests, — Cornwall  (XXVII). 

7.  Single  religious  play  by  religious  gild, — Sleaford  (XIX). 

8.  Single  religious  play  in  connection  with  church  service, — Beth- 
ersden,  Heybridge  (X),  Leicester,  1546-71  (XII),  Reading  (XVII), 
Tewksbury  (XX). 

9.  Plays  in  the  chapels  and  castles  of  nobility, — Northumberland 
(XV). 

10.  Puppet  mystery,  a  form  of  church  mute  mystery, — Witney 
(XXIII). 

11.  Occasional  plays,  mystery  or  otherwise, — Bassingbourne,  Can- 
terbury, 1501-2,  Edinburgh  (VIII),  Leicester,  1477  (XII),  Lincoln 
(XIII),  London,  1556,  1557,  1603   (XIV),  Windsor  (XXII). 

12.  School  or  cloister  dramas, — Cambridge,  Dunstable  (VII),  Lon- 
don, 12th  century  (XIV),  Winchester  (XXI). 

13.  Processional  pageants, — Aberdeen,  Dublin  (VI),  London  by 
Holy  Trinity  Gild  (XIV). 

14.  Christmas  mummings, — Gloucestershire  (IX),  Lancashire  (XI). 

15.  Royal  entry, — Paris  (XVI). 

16.  Play  by  company  under  the  protection  of  some  noble, — 
Shrewsbury  (XVIII). 


XVIII. 


THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE   NORTHERN    SEPTENAR 
STANZA. 

The  English  Mystery  Plays  present  a  bewildering  variety  of 
metres  and  stanzas.  In  this  variety,  however,  it  may  be  expected 
that  individuality  of  authorship  will  reveal  itself,  since  a  scribe  is 
less  likely  to  distort  beyond  recognition  stanzaic  structure  than  to 
destroy  dialectal  peculiarities  in  the  changes  of  transcription.     But 


Charles  Davidson — "English  Mystery  Plays.  103 

a  study  of  the  prosody  of  the  plays  involves  the  discussion  of  aearly 
all  the  forms  of  Middle  English  metre.     It  seems  best,  therefore,  to 

consider  in  brief  the  genesis  of  the  leading  types  of  English  mediae- 
val metres. 

The  Latin  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  reservoir  from  which  the 
Western  Literatures  in  common  drew  their  metres.  Within  the  cen- 
turies preceding  the  rise  of  national  literatures,  the  Latin  of  the 
church  had  ceased  to  regard  quantity,  and  had  conformed  to  the 
vulgar  dialects  in  placing  the  stress  upon  the  root  syllable.  Conse- 
quently the  monkish  verse  was  an  accentual  verse,  which,  however, 
although  regardless  of  quantity,  still  gave  heed  to  the  regular  suc- 
cession of  stressed  and  unstressed  syllables. 

This  verse  under  the  influence  of  accent  assumed  new  characteris- 
tics. The  metrical  foot  and  the  word  became  coincident,  the  line 
with  feminine  ending  prevailed,  rime  arose,  and  because  of  the  fre- 
quent occurrence  of  similar  endings  in  Latin,  that  species  of  rime 
known  to  the  French  as  '  entrelacee,'  or  '  lace,'  where  a  succession  of 
lines,  mounting  sometimes  into  the  hundreds,  have  but  one  rime,  be- 
came a  famous  metrical  resource. 

The  verse  forms  became  fixed  as  types  which  were  recognized  as 
the  proper  vehicles  of  expression,  each  for  a  variety  of  (literature. 
Thus  the  7-accent  line,  or  septenar,  was  used  in  satirical  or  political 
poetry.  Stanzaic  formations,  from  which  arose  the  12-line  stanza  to 
which  the  English  metrical  romance  writers  were  so  partial,  are 
found  in  church  proses  and  Latin  church  mysteries. 

From  these  Latin  metres  directly,  or  through  the  medium  of  the 
French,  arose  the  English  metrical  lines,  which  were,  in  general,  of 
three  varieties  :  the  7-accent  line,  or  septenar,  the  6-accent  line,  or 
Alexandrine,  and  the  4-accent  line.  These  lines  were  combined  in 
various  ways  to  form  stanzas  ;  sometimes  a  model  already  established 
in  French  or  Latin  was  followed;  sometimes  a  new  stanzaic  form, 
the  product  of  national  genius,  was  originated ;  but  in  ultimate 
analysis  each  stanza  can  be  resolved  into  lines  of  the  three  types — 
the  possible  occurrence  of  a  5-accent  line  will  be  discussed  later — 
unless  it  be  a  direct  imitation  of  a  less  usual  French  or  Latin  type. 

The  Latin  septenar  was  cultivated  in  England.  It  was  used  lot- 
political  poems  from  the  time  of  King  John,  and  probably  earlier, 
and  was  the  custornaiy  form  for  the  goliardic  poems  which  usually 
pa>s  under  the  name  of  Walter  Map.  From  this  line  and  the  stan- 
zaic structure  arising  therefrom,  sprang,  without  the  aid  of  French 
influence,  as  I  think,  the  typical  form  of  the  septenar  stanza  in  the 


104  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

poetry  of  the  north  of  England.  To  this  we  will  turn  our  attention 
first. 

In  studying  the  English  poetry  of  the  septenar  stanza,  attention 
must  be  paid  to  the  mode  of  publication,  for  the  poetic  form  was 
closely  molded  to  the  known  needs  of  utterance.  In  the  North  the 
gleeman  was  still  welcome  to  the  home  of  the  franklin  or  the  hut  of 
the  peasant.  The  tradition  of  the  fathers  had  not  been  broken,  as 
in  the  South,  by  the  intrusion  of  the  jongleur  with  the  fashions  and 
tales  of  France.  We  may  believe  that,  harp  in  hand,  the  bard  still 
recited  the  warlike  deeds  of  the  fathers  in  the  alliterative  measures 
of  the  Old  English,  until  the  church  poets  furnished  him  with  bal- 
lads and  pious  songs,  formed,  as  we  shall  see,  upon  the  Latin  sep- 
tenar. These  were  sung  with  the  accompaniment  of  the  hai*p  in  a 
recitative  delivery,  imitated,  it  may  be,  in  part  from  the  rhythmic 
intonation  of  the  church  service. 

For  such  delivery  the  harp  is  preeminently  the  instrument.  It  is 
wholly  responsive  to  the  will  of  the  reciter,  who  can  heighten  the 
accent  of  his  lines,  and  even  supply  a  rhythmic  stress,  where  the 
poet's  art  failed  him,  by  a  touch  of  the  harp-string.  A  succession 
of  light  unstressed  syllables  can  be  run,  or  two  stressed  syllables  in 
juxtaposition  separated,  by  a  slide  of  the  voice,  with  the  aid  of  the 
instrument.  To  poet  and  reciter  alike  the  feet  of  classical  metres 
were  unknown  ;  so  long  as  the  musical  rhythm  of  the  verse  was 
maintained,  he  cared  nothing  for  trochees  or  anapaests,  and  for  this 
task  the  harp  was  his  ablest  coadjutor. 

The  discussion  here  concerns  itself  directly  with  the  septenar 
stanza  of  the  ancient  Bernicia,  that  district  extending  from  the 
Humber  through  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland.  No  position  is  taken 
regai'ding  the  scansion  of  later  English  metres,  formed  under  the  in- 
fluence of  classical  models,  or  dominated  by  French  metrical  sys- 
tems. The  stanza  was  formed  from  a  Latin  measure  that  had  cast 
off  all  the  laws  of  the  classics.  Under  the  law  of  accent,  subject 
only  to  the  requirements  of  recitative  delivery,  it  ran  its  career,  as 
we  -hall  see,  from  the  regularity  of  the  Latin  septenar  to  a  lawless- 
ness that  tolerated  an  excess  of  unstressed  syllables  so  extreme  that 
the  voice  of  the  reciter  must  needs  find  rest  in  irregular  stresses. 

Indirectly,  our  contention  touches  also  the  metres  whose  district 
lies  south  of  this,  for  the  regularity  of  the  Latin  and  Fiench  metres 
was  corrupted  through  contact  with  the  popular  measure  of  the 
North.  Indeed,  it  was  this  principle,  best  illustrated  in  the  sep- 
tenar, that,  through  its  sturdy  resistance  to  the  classicists  of  the 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  105 

Elizabethan  age,  compelled  a  compromise  and  saved  our  prosody 
from  the  level  monotony  of  excessive  uniformity  of  movement. 

However,  it  is  sufficient  for  this  discussion  that  the  reader  should 
abandon  as  futile  all  attempts  to  analyze  into  classical  feet  the  Eng- 
lish verses  which  follow,  and  read  them  with  natural  stresses,  run- 
ning the  unstressed  syllables  as  nearly  as  possible  in  a  recitative  mono- 
tone. Semi-stresses  occur,  occasionally  two  semi-stresses  take  the 
place  of  a  full  stress,  and  often  a  slide  or  prolongation  of  a  stressed 
syllable,  or  a  caesura,  is  the  only  separation  between  two  stressed 
syllables  ;  but  these  semi-stresses,  for  the  sake  of  simplicity  of  pre- 
sentation, I  have  ignored,  using  only  the  breve  and  the  macron  for 
unstressed  and  stressed  syllables  respectively. 

Another  agent  in  the  formation  of  this  stanza  was  alliteration,  for 
which  the  poetic  consciousness  of  the  people  still  made  its  demands. 
The  letter-rime,  coinciding  with  the  stress,  heightened  the  accent, 
and  rendered  the  unstressed  syllables  of  still  less  importance.  The 
old  alliterative  verse  was  very  similar  to  the  first  half-verse  of  the 
-accent  line.  The  Northern  poets  took  the  septenar  line  in  its 
stanzaic  form  and  laid  upon  it  the  requirements  of  their  ancient 
poetry,  thus  building  for  themselves  a  characteristic  stanza,  distinc- 
tive, as  I  believe,  of  the  poets  north  of  the  Humber. 

It  becomes  necessary  now  for  us  to  trace  in  support  of  these  prop- 
ositions the  rise  of  the  septenar  stanza,  and  to  note  carefully  the 
laws  of  its  formation.  Of  the  Latin  septenar  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury examples  are  abundant.  It  was  the  usual  vehicle,  as  has  been 
said,  for  political  song  and  satire. 

Ex.  1.  The  Battle  of  Lewes.  Middle  of  thirteenth  century. 
Lines  1-4. 

Calamus  velociter  II  scribe  sic  scribeutis, 

Lingua  laudabiliter  II  te  benedicentis, 

Dei  patris  dextera  II  domine  virtutem. 

Qui  das  tuis  prospera-  II  quando  vis  ad  niitura  : 

Kj  \J    <_J  II  W  \J <~r\ 

—  kj  «J  — —  <J II  <J  —  «J yj  -, 

1/  __  U  V  __  II \J o <j) 

a  a  b  b  etc. 
Characteristics  : — Rime  by  couplets,  no  stanzaic  structure,  mascu- 
line caesura,  feminine  rime,  stress  follows  the  caesura,  trochaic  move- 
ment, regular  succession  of  stressed  and  unstressed  syllables,  caesura 
regularly  divides  verse  into  a  first  half  of  four  accents  and  second 

i  Wright,  p.  72. 
Trans.  Conn.  Acad.,  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892. 

8 

* 


106  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


half  of  three  accents,  attempt  at  coincidence  of  verse  and  word  ac- 
cent,1 but  not  fully  carried  out  in  the  second  half-verse,  riming  caesuras. 

This  is  the  typical  form  of  the  Latin  septenar,  and  shows  clearly 
its  derivation  from  the  classical  dactylic  hexameter.2  The  masculine 
caesura  and  feminine  verse-ending  have  been  retained.  Quantity  has 
been  exchanged  for  accent,  the  trochaic  movement  has  superseded 
the  dactylic,  and  an  accent  has  been  added  to  the  first  half-verse. 

Ex.  2.  The  Song  of  the  Welsh.3  Thirteenth  century.  Last 
tetrastich. 

Istis  suis  finibiis  II  contigit  regnare ;  ' 
XI lis  duces,  prtesides,  1  reges  triumphare, 
Quibus  nullo  merito  II  se  possint  square  ; 
Est  quam  regnare  longe  II  plus  induperare. 


Characteristics  : — Rime  entrelacee,  caesuras  without  rime,  other- 
wise as  Ex.  1. 

The  frequent  occurrence  in  Latin  of  the  same  termination  made 
it  possible  for  the  poet  to  continue  his  verse  indefinitely  with  a  sin- 
gle rime;  thus  in  the  'Dialogus  Inter  Corpus  et  Animam'  fifteen 
lines  rime  entrelacee.  The  French  poets,  however,  excelled  in  this 
species  of  verbal  gymnastic,  the  author  of  the  Thesaur  de  Pierre  de 
Corbian4  riming  its  eight  hundred  and  forty  lines  on  the  ending 
'ens.' 

Ex.  3.     Dialogus  inter  Corpus  et  Animam.6     Lines  105-109. 

Mundus  et  daemouium  II  legem  sanxire  nuituam, 
fraudis  Ad  consortium  ||  carnem  trahentes  fatuam 
eorumque  blanditiis  II  caro  seducit  animam 
quam  a  virtutum  culmine  ||  trahit  ad  partem  inflmam, 
qua:  statim  carnem  sequitur  ||  ut  bos  ductus  ad  victimam. 


i  See  '  Dei-  lateinische  accent,1  by  P.  Lange,  Philologus,  vol.  31,  p.  107;  also  Handbuch 
der  Klassiscben  Altertums-Wissenschaft,  vol.  2,  p.  595,  art.  128,  5. 

3  The  trochaic  septenar  was  favored  by  the  late  Latin  writers,  but  differed  from  the 
medieval  septenar  in  essential  points.— Handbuch,  p.  59*5,  art.  131. 

3  Wright,  p.  58. 

*  Grand  Dictionnaire  Universelle  s.  v.  Rime. 

s  Poems  of  Walter  Mapes,  p.  99. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  in? 

Characteristics  : — The  intrusion  of  the  dactylic  movement  in  every 
verse  position  excepl  the  second,  otherwise  as  Ex.  •_'.  In  the  poem 
this  stanza  is  preceded  and  followed  by  septenar  stanzas  on  the 
model  of  Ex.  2. 

Ex.  4.     De  Pravitate  Sseculi.1     Lines  29-33. 

Sed  nc  \  i'.<  ii.-t  iin':'mi  |  turbine  serm6num, 
mundi  caput  c6rruit  I  Don  habet  patr6num: 
ubinamesl  h6die  1  virtus  Scipi6num, 
Marcel  lus  que  loqu&x  |  el  nuniina  vana  Catonum? 


.  wuwug c- 


Characteristics  : — The  tendency  shown  in  Ex.  3  has  been  reduced 
to  sy>tein,  the  fourth  verse  becoming  dactylic  by  the  loss  of  one 
stress  in  the  first  half-verse  and  the  removal  of  stress  from  the 
syllable  immediately  following  the  caesui-a.  There  are  many  irregu- 
larities in  this  poem,  but  the  intention  of  the  author  seems  evident 
from  such  fourth  lines  as — Jupiter  esse  pitim  ||  statuit  quodcumque 
juvaret. 

We  return  now  to  Ex.  1.  This  passage  rimes  at  the  caesuras  by 
couplets,  and  can  therefore  be  written  as  two  quatrains.  But  these 
quatrains  were  easily  bound  together  into  one  stanza  by  alternating 
rime,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  lines  taken  from  the  same  poem. 

Ex.  5.     Lines  159-162. 

Inferentes  raiseris  * —  u  —  u  —  o  - 

Qui  non  sunt  cord a-ti,  —  u  —  u  - 

Nee  divini  muneris  —  <~J  —  <->  —  <->  - 

Gratia  firmati,  —  °  —  o  - 

Carnis  desideriis  u  ~~  °  —  °  ~ 

animates  dati,  u         "~u~ 

Ciijus  inimunditiis,  0  u  _ 

brutis  comparati,  "  a  b  a  b  a  b  a  b. 

Since  the  Latin  7-accent  line  was  not  inconveniently  long,  it  was 
usually  written  as  such  ;  but  in  English  the  above  form  was  favored, 
and,  through  the  prominence  thus  given  to  the  caesura,  riming  half- 
verses  increased  in  frequency,  and  one  type  of  English  stanza  be- 
came fixed. 

Another  form  of  stanza  arises  from  a  different  combination  of 
V-accent  couplets  of  the  type  of  Ex.  1.  The  two  couplets  given  as 
Ex.  1  may  be  written  by  taking  the  first  half-verses  alternately,  and 

i  Poems  of  Walter  Mapes,  p.  159. 


108  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

then  the  second  half-verses  in  like  order.     The  stanza  thus  becomes 
as  follows — 


U <J  \J  —   >. 

O—  V  —  u J 

o U u -0 

«J  O v   -v 

o  — u u  O 

—  u  __u  — —  v  A 
w u u  y 


ababcdcd. 

But  rhythmical  proportion  seems  to  require  that  the  first  stanzaic 
section  shall  exceed  the  second  in  the  number  of  verses,  standing 
either  six  to  four,  or  eight  to  four  or  six.  The  correspondence  be- 
tween the  octet  and  sestet  of  the  sonnet  and  the  eight  and  six  of 
the  septenar  stanza  would  seem  to  argue  a  psychological  basis  for 
this  division. 

Ex.  6.     De  Nummo.1     First  stanza. 

Minus  ferens  munera  ^  — —  «j — o \ 

pium  f&cit  impium  ;  — —  u  —  o— o^— ^ 

nummus  jungit  fdbdera,  u  —  <J — <j A 

nummus  dat  consilium;  u  ° u <) 

nummus  levit  aspera,  "~ ~~  °          o— o A 

nummus  sedat  prgeliiim ;  °          °        ° 

nummus  in  praelatis, 

est  pro  jure  satis  ; 

nummo  locum  (hit is, 

vos,  qui  jiidicatis.  abababcccc. 

That  these  verses  are  derived  from  the  septenar  is  proved — 

1.  By  the  retention  of  the  masculine  rimes  in  the  first  six  lines. 

2.  By  the  use  of  feminine  rimes  in  last  four  lines. 

3.  By  the  entrelacee  rime  of  the  last  four  lines,  a  favorite  rime  in 
septenar  lines. 

In  the  six  examples  given  above  the  movement  is  without  excep- 
tion trochaic.  This  was  not  an  essential  characteristic  of  the  7-accent 
line.  The  Latin  septenar  was  usually  trochaic,  but  the  French  and 
English  were  more  frequently  iambic. 

Ex.  7.     Song  from  'Carmina  Burana.'8 

Forti'mir  rota  volvitur,  ||  descendo  minoratus; 
alter  in  altum  tollitur  ||  minis  exaltatus; 
rex  sedit  in  v<'i'tk<\  ||  caveat  ruinam, 
nam  sub  tlxe  leg-imus,  II  Hecubam  reginam. 


u u  __v/) 


— o  —  u  —  u —  a  —  <j  — o — o» 
"  -     "         '■        a    __i>_o_u/ 


o — o —  u- 


i  Poems  of  Walter  Manes,  p.  236.  2  Schipper,  vol.  1,  p.  90. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  100 

Characteristics  : — On  the  model  of  Ex.  1,  but  with  confusion  of 
trochaic  and  iambic  movement,  a  tendency  to  insert  an  unstressed 
syllable  after  the  caesura  in  iambic  lines;  usually  the  first  half- 
verses  of  couplets  have  the  same  movement,  the  change,  when  made, 
arising  from  the  stressed  or  unstressed  condition  of  the  vowel  follow- 
ing the  caesura.  The  example  illustrates  unintentional  rimes,  the 
first  couplet  riming  at  the  cresura,  the  second  not  so  riming. 

Ex.  8.     The  Lament  of  Simon  de  Montfort.1     First  stanza. 

Chaunter  m'estoit,  mon  cuer  le  volt,  II  en  un  ilmv  langage, 
Tut  (''ii  ploraunt  fust  let  le  chaunt    de  nostre  dus  baronage. 
Que  pur  la  pees,  si  loynz  apres  II  se  lesserent  detrere, 
Lur  cors  trencher,  e  demenbrer,  ||  pur  salver  Engleterre, 
Ore  est  ocys  la  tlur  de  pris,  II  qe  taunt  sav6it  de  guere, 
Ly  quens  Montfort,  sa  dure  mort  ||  molt  enplorra  la  terre. 

\J-^V  —  U  —  u  —MO O <-» Y 

>«j O O *-»  i«o  —  00— O— ' 

u U—  *J « "O O U v 

o o O O "U O V ■ 

u u O O ho O O . 

u_—  u—  u  —  <-> "O w o ) 

Characteristics  : — This  stanza  is  formed  accoi'ding  to  one  form 
cited  by  Dante,3  two  couplets  (pedes),  and  a  closing  couplet  (cauda). 
The  change  to  iambic  movement  is  complete,  and  is  accompanied 
by  the  insertion  of  an  unstressed  syllable  after  the  coesura  ;  the  rimes 
become  masculine  through  the  influence  of  the  iambic  movement. 

The  lines,  however,  contain   concealed   rimes   at  the   second  and 

fourth    stresses,    rendering    possible    a    stanzaic    scheme    as   iambic 

dimeter.     The  first  couplet  forms,  then,  a  stanza  thus — 

k> —  y  —  -\ 
it ii  —  -^ 


U V o ^ 

o_  o  —  A 
o —  o ■>) 

o o _o / 


This  stanzaic  structure  passed  into  English,  and  was  cultivated  by 
Dunbar,3  Wyatt,4  and  others. 

As  derived  from  the  Latin  septenar  with  double  feminine  rime  and 
trochaic  movement,  it  must  be  of  a  very  early  date,  as  it  is  found  in 
the  hymn  on  the  Epiphany5  of  the  ninth  century,  with  the  following 
scheme — 

— u  —  *-/  Y 
O— II  -^ 


—O—  o  vA 

— o  —  o  J  \ 

— o o voS 


i  Wright,  p.  125.  =  Dante,  p.  232. 

s  Vol.  1,  p.  93,— "Of  the  Ladyis  Solistaris  at  Court."       ■»  Guest,  p.  587.       s  Guest,  p.  586. 


110  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Tliis  stanza  became  very  popular  for  church  lyrics  in  England1 
and  France. 

The  form  passed  also  into  English,  but,  as  English  taste  is  averse 
to  double  feminine  rimes,  the  second  unstressed  syllable  received  a 
stress,  and  oftentimes  other  verses  were  given  masculine  rimes  by 
dropping  final  unstressed  syllables  ;  such  an  example  is,  in  Shakes- 
peare, Puck's  song,2  "  On  the  ground,"  etc.;  this  is  in  sharp  contrast 
with  the  song  of  Py ramus,  "  But  stay,  O  spite  !"  which  is  in  the  same 
stanza  with  iambic  movement.3 

From  this  stanza  as  type  many  other  forms  arose  in  church  prosae, 
and  passed  thence  into  profane  literature  ;  but,  as  they  are  foreign  to 
our  purpose,  we  turn  to  the  consideration  of  the  7-accent  line  in 
English. 

Ex.  9.  Poema  Morale,4  date  of  MS.  about  1200,  of  poem  about 
1170.     Dialect  South-English.     First  couplet. 

Ic  am  elder,  thanne  ic  wes,  II  a  wintre  and  ec  a  lore ; 
ic  ealdi  more,  thanne  ic  dede :  II  mi  wit  oghte  to  bi  more. 
— u —  u  —  u—  no— -ou  — u  — u^ 


Characteristics  : — In  common  with  Ex.  1,  rime  by  couplets,  no 
stanzaic  structure,  masculine  caesura  divides  verse  into  a  first  half- 
verse  of  four  stresses  and  a  second  of  three  stresses.  As  different 
from  Ex.  1,  confusion  of  trochaic  and  iambic  movements,  irregular 
succession  of  stressed  and  unstressed  syllables,  unstressed  syllable 
following  caesura,  or  stressed,  as — 

Ne  m&i  him  no  man  al  swo  wel  II  demen  ne  swo  rihte : 

Two  points  are,  however,  fairly  well  established — 

1.  If  a  stressed  syllable  follows  the  caesura,  the  line  will  usually 
begin  with  the  trochaic  movement. 

2.  The  two  verses  of  the  couplet  will  usually  agree  in  this  matter- 
This  measure,  written  in  stanzas  of  four  verses,  second  and  fourth 

riming,  or  in  quatrains,  is  termed  in  English  hymnology  'Common 
Metre.'    It  forms  also  a  favorite  ballad  measure  for  Northern  ballads. 
Ex.   10.     St.  Stephen  and  Herod.6     Second  stanza. 

Steuyn  out  of  kechone  cam  II  wyth  boris  lied  on  honde. 
He  saw  a  sterre  was  fayr  and  brygt  ||  oner  Bedlem  stonde. 


i  Analccta  Liturgica,  Fasciculus  V,  Prosa;  p]cclesi;c  Abrincensis,  p.  319 ;  also  in  Pro- 
3  Ecclesice  Sancti  Dionysii,  p.  360. 

»M.  N.  D.8,2.  "M.N.D.5,1.  *  Anglia  1,  p.  6.  s  Child,  vol.  1,  p.  341. 

e  For  discussion  of  alliteration  iu  septenar  stanzas  see  p.  113  ff. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  1  1 1 

The  ballad  stanza  is,  however,  customarily  written  in  four  verses  ; 
thus,  in  'Lady  Isabel  and  the  Elf-Knight,'  lirst  stanza.1 


Or  in  '  Georgie, 


«— oo 

u 

-oo o . 

o o. 

111(1 

stanza — 

u — u —  <j o —    X 

o O   o   <J-J 

u —  o  —  o  v  -A 

O  __  O    __  O   __  OS 


It  may  be  added  in  passing-  that  a  rare  form  of  ballad  stanza,  that 
of  the  '  Not-browne  Mayd,'3  is  derived  from  the  iambic  dimeter 
under  Ex.  8.     Second  stanza. 

0  —  u 

O *J   —  ' 

o u  '  \ 

U u U  / 

o_o  —  A 

U  <J  'J 

o  —  u  —  o  ' 

0  —  o -. 

O u  —  o  —  N 

u  —  (J  _r  » 

1  \ 1 1  -  ' 


This  affords  an  illustration  of  the  resolution  of  the  full  stanza  of 
Ex.  8,  and  keeps  the  proportion  of  the  type  between  '  pedes '  and 
'  cauda.' 

To  return  again  to  the  septenar,  and  cite  additional  illustrations 
of  the  close  modeling  of  the  English  stanza  upon  the  Latin. 

Ex.   11.     A  song.4     Fifth  stanza.     Southern  dialect. 

Re  stille,  Jjou  fol,  y  calle  J?ou  riht,  II  cost  Jjou  neuer  Wynne? 

b6u  art  wayted  day  &  nyht  II  wi]?  fader  &  dl  my  kynne  ; 

be  bou  in  mi  bour  ytake,  ||  lete  J>ey  for  no  synne 

me  to  holde,  &  be  to  slou  :  ||  be  deb  so  bou  mabt  wynne? 


O  ii  O  —  u — v 


Characteristics  : — Those  of  Ex.   2  and  Ex.  9  feminine  rimes  and 
entrelacee. 


i  Child,  vol  1,  p.  57.  2  Child,  vol.  7,  p.  140. 

s  Percy,  vol.  2,  p.  193.  '  I(<'iddeker,  p.  172. 


112  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Ex.   12.     A  Song  against  the  Monks.1     Dialect  of  Mercia. 

Freeres,  freeres,  wo  go  be ! 

ministri  malorum. 
For  many  a  raannes  soule  bring-  ge 

ad  pienas  infernorum. 

There  are  many  poems  in  which  the  first  half-verse  is  in  English  and 
the  second  in  Latin. 

The  septenar  couplet  with  riming  caesuras  is  very  common  in 
English  of  every  period,  and  is  usually  written  in  quatrain  stanzas. 
The  romancers,  however,  rarely  used  it ;  still,  examples  can  be  found 
in  the  metrical  romances. 

Ex.13.     Sir  Ferumbras."     Supposed  date  1377.     Lines  2401-2. 

Wanne  be  day  hira  was  a-falle 

&  tyme  was  come  to  walke, 
Maubyn  toward  be  castel  walle 

pryuyliche  gan  him  stalke : 

This  measure  continues  through  line  3410.  The  dialect  is  thought 
to  be  Southern. 

Ex.  14.    The  Five  Joys  of  the  Virgin.3    Southern  dialect.    Stanza  5. 

be  king  |  bat  wes  of  be  |  ibore.  ^  —  o  —  *J e»  — 

to  heouene  he  be  vette.  o  —  u  —  u  — 

To  bare  blisse  II  bat  wes  for-lore.  <J —  <-"  — uu —  <->  — 

and  bi  hym  seolue  sette.  °       °        u 

V6r  |  he  hedde  be  |  icore.  °        u       ° 

wel  veyre  he  be  grette.  _     ~           a     " 

Bl.ybe  I  were  bu  |  ber-vore.  u u u 

bo  eng-les  be  imi'-tte. 

This  stanza  is  of  frequent  occurrence  ;  in  the  Southern  dialect 
both  with  and  without  feminine4  rimes,-  in  the  Northern  dialect 
more  often  with  masculine  rimes. 

Ex.  15.     The  Duty  of  Christians.6 


u  — u  — 

o  — o  — 
. o u A     abababa  b« 


This  is  upon  the  model  of  Ex.  5. 


i  Schipper,  vol.  1,  p.  350.  2  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  34.  3  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  49,  p.  87. 

•<  I  shall  not  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  syllabification  of  unstressed  anal  e. 
In  general,  I  believe  it  to  have  been  pronounced  in  the  South,  and  silent  in  the  North, 
but  it  was  pronounced  over  a  wider  area  in  the  earlier  centuries  under  review  than  in 
the  later,  and  was  at  all  times  subject  to  various  rules  and  to  the  exigencies  of  prosody. 

6  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  49,  p.  141. 

e  The  metrical  scheme  as  printed  is  not  quite  right.  At  the  end  of  each  of  the  even 
lines  (2,  4,  6,  8)  there  should  be  added  a  breve  (u). 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays.  113 

The  examples  of  the  septenar  stanza  have  so  far  been  drawn  from 
the  Southern  and  Midland  dialects,  with  the  exception  of  certain 
ballad  forms.  Alliteration  has  played  no  important  part  in  the  verse. 
The  stanza  lias  been  bound  by  no  laws  not  absolutely  necessary  for 
its  formation.  As  Ave  pass  to  the  North,  however,  an  important 
difference  appears.  Great  technical  mastery  of  this,  the  favorite 
stanza,  is  evident.  Alliteration  becomes  prominent  and  obligatory. 
The  verses  receive  a  different  arrangement  from  that  known  in  the 
South.  A  new  type  of  stanza  is  established,  with  a  life  history  of  its 
own. 

Of  the  process  by  which  this  result  was  attained,  we  know  but  lit- 
tle. Few  records  of  the  early  attempts  of  these  poets  have  sur- 
vived. We  find  the  typical  stanza,  with  verse  arrangement  as  in 
the  Latin,  Ex.  C,  fully  established,  certain  requirements  in  allitera- 
tion recognized,  and  the  poets  experimenting  with  various  methods 
of  ornamentation. 

It  seems  best  to  consider  first  the  varieties  of  ornamentation  and 
structure  in  a  familiar  stanzaic  form.  The  example  chosen  might  be 
written  as  iambic  dimeter,1  as  in  Ex.  10,  but  the  stanza  would  be 
inordinately  long.  Moreover,  this  leonine  rime  was  cultivated  in 
the  North  when,  oftentimes,  it  was  not  carried  out  with  sufficient 
regularity  to  admit  of  resolution.  In  my  opinion  the  author  in- 
tended this  for  a  septenar  stanza  in  4's  and  3's,  without  riming  pri- 
mary ca?suras,  i.  e.  at  the  close  of  the  4's,  and  with  entrelacee  long- 
lines,  i.  e.  entrelacee  3's,  although  the  lack  of  rime  with  the  primary 
caesuras  is  very  unusual. 

The  development  of  the  stanza  can,  then,  be  briefly  stated  as  fol- 
lows— 

1.  A  septenar  stanza  of  six  verses,  the  first  four  constituting  the 
'  pedes,'  the  last  two  a  closing  couplet,  or  'cauda.' 

'2.  The  first  four  verses  rime  entrelacee. 

3.  Structural  alliteration  imposed  upon  the  7-stress  line, 

4.  Resolution  of  the  7-stress  lines,  forming  a  12-verse  stanza, 
without  riming  primary  caesuras,  but  with  secondary  ca?suras  fol- 
lowing the  second  stress  in  the  4-stress  verse. 

5.  Leonine  rime  in  the  4-stress  verse,  which  might,  therefore,  be 
written  as  dimeter,  since  the  rime  is  carried  consistently  through 
the  poem. 

A  word  concerning  structural  alliteration  is  here  in  place.  The 
Old  English  verse  measure  was  based  in  great  part  on  alliteration. 

i  Sctaipper,  vol.  1,  p.  366. 


114  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

The  law  of  structure  has  been  most  concisely  given  in  the  words  ;' 
"It  [alliteration]  consists  in  the  employment  of  the  same  or  similar 
sounds  at  the  beginning  of  a  syllable  which  receives  the  primary 
stress.  The  second  hemistich  contains  one  such  alliterative  syllable, 
as  a  rule  that  which  has  the  first  primary  stress  ;  the  first  hemistich 
has  regularly  two,  though  frequently  only  one.  The  alliterative 
sound  must  be  the  same  throughout,  if  consonantal ;  if  vocalic,  it  is 
usually  different  in  the  three  syllables." 

It  may  be  affirmed,  in  general,  that  the  laws  of  Old  English  allit- 
eration obtained  in  the  Middle  English  period  in  the  septenar  line 
of  the  Northern  English.  Sometimes,  however,  the  7-stress  verse 
was  considered  as  a  whole,  as  in  the  following  example  ;  sometimes 
the  4-stress  line  constituted  the  verse,  and  in  neither  case  does  the 
author  hesitate  to  place  the  two  alliterative  syllables  in  either  half- 
verse,  as  may  best  suit  his  convenience.  Structural  alliteration  in 
Middle  English,  then,  consists  of  three  alliterative  syllables  under 
the  primary  stress,  two  of  which  should  be  in  one  half-verse — more 
generally  in  the  first — and  one  in  the  other. 

Alliteration  for  ornament  continually  increased  both  in  the  North 
and  South,  showing  itself  in  the  following  ways — 

1.  By  excessive  alliteration. 

2.  By  alliteration  in  semi-stressed  syllables. 

3.  By  alliteration  in  unstressed  syllables. 

4.  By  alliteration  of  different  consonantal  sounds,  as  f  with  v  or  w, 
s  with  sh,  etc.2 

5.  By  disregard  of  the  primary  stress  in  placing  alliteration. 
Ex.   16.     Moral  Poem,  by  Richard  Rolle  de  Hampole.3 

When  Adam  dtllfe  II  and  Eve  spane, 

So  spire  if  bou  may  spede, 
Whare  was  ban  ||  the  pride  of  man, 

bat  now  merres  his  mede  ? 
Of  erthe  and  lame  II  as  was  Adam, 
Nakede  to  noye  and  nede. 
We  er,  als  he,  II  naked  to  be, 

Whills  we  bis  lyfe  sail  lede. 
With  I  and  oe  II  borne  er  we, 

As  Salamon  vs  highte, 
To  travell  here  ||  whills  we  er  fere, 
As  fewle  vn-to  be  flyghte. 


i  Cook,  p.  li. 

2  Die  Alliterierende  Langzeile,  by  Rosenthal,  Anglia  I,  p.  4+o. 

s  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  26. 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays.  115 


x  b  \  1 1  x  b  x  b  x  c  x  c. 


As  regards  the  alliteration, — in  three  eases,  one  syllable  in  the  first 
half-verse,  two  in  second,  of  full  septenar  line  ;  in  one  case  all  three 
syllables  in  second  half-verse.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  difficulty 
of  preserving  both  leonine  rime  and  alliteration  in  the  first  half-verse. 
In  one  verse,  the  first  of  the  closing  couplet,  there  is  no  alliteration. 

The  above  example  was  an  ambitious  attempt  at  leonine  rime  by 
an  author  who  had  apparently  found  no  model  for  a  complicated 
stanzaic  structure.  Such  a  type  was  perfected  by  other  poets,  the 
earliest  and  most  radical  divergence  appearing,  so  far  as  we  know, 
in  the  Northern  '  Evangelium  Nicodemi.' ' 


rO  =  U O   =     / 


n  b  ;i  b  a  b  a  b  c  d  c  d. 


In  this  the  double  quatrain  with  masculine  rimes,  an  important 
modification  of  Ex.  15,  is  established,  and  the  3-stress  quatrain  cauda 
appears.  This  form  of  cauda  is  one  distinguishing  feature  of  the 
Northern  stanza,  but  we  refrain  from  discussing  the  stanza  until  it 
appears  in  its  full  development. 

This,  the  typical  stanza  of  the  North,  is  reached  by  the  substitu- 
tion of  4-stress  lines  for  the  3-stress  lines  of  the  double  quatrain  of 
Ex.  17. 


Evangelium  Nicodemi,  Arctaiv  flir  neuere  Spracben,  1874-5,  Nos.  53.  54. 


116  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Ex.   18.     York  Plays,  No.  X,  stanza  1. 

Grett  god,  |  bat  alle  bis  world  |  has  wrought, 
And  wisely  wote  ||  both  gud  and  ille, 
I  tln'ink  liym  thraly  II  in  my  thought 
Of  all  his  blue  II  he  lens  me  tille. 
That  bus  fro  barenhede  II  has  me  broght, 
A  hundereth  wynter  ||  to  fulfille, 
Thou  graiinte  me  myght  ||  so  }nlt  I  mought 
oi  clan  my  werkis  II  after  bi  wille. 
F6r  in  this  erthely  lyffe 
Ar  non  to  god  more  boune. 
Then  is  I  and  my  wyffe 
For  frenshippe  we  haue  foiine. 


0=0  =IIU O- 

0=0  =  0" —  o 

O O  II  o=  o , 

o 0=001.-0 

O o—  Oil—     o- 

° Q  —  II  o V  : 

*     =  Oo  rrzo  «  =oo  -.  _ 

— oo  —  o . 

o_o—  o  —  ^ 
—  o  _0U_^ 
°  =  «  —  u=.y     ababababcdcd. 
This  stanza  illustrates  the  typical  septenar  stanza  within  the  limits 
of  the  ancient  Northumbria.     It  is,  however,  an  imperfect  example, 
since  signs  of  deterioration  are  present,  especially  as  regards  allitera- 
tion.    Possibly  a  perfect  specimen  was  never  produced.     But  such 
as  it  is,  it  will  enable  us  to  establish  the  characteristics  of  the  stanza, 
and  will  give  us  a  starting  point  from  which  to  trace  the  variations, 
expansion,   and    disorganization  of   the   stanza   in   its   later   history. 
With  immaterial  changes  this  form  appears  in  the  York  plays  II, 
X,  XI,  XX,  XXIII,  XXIV,  XXVII,  XXXV,  XXXVII,  XLIV,  and 
in  portions  of  XII,  XV,  XVII. 
Characteristics  : — 

1.  A  first  section  of  eight  verses  with  two  alternate  rimes.  Varia- 
tion in  this  section  marks  extreme  deterioration  of  stanza. 

2.  A  second  section,  consisting  of  a  3-stress  quatrain. 

This  frequently  contains  six  verses,  and  may  vary  in  the  method 
of  riming. 

3.  The  regular  iambic  movement.  The  stanza  drifts  steadily 
toward  the  anaprestic  movement,  finally  exceeds  it  in  the  number 
of  unstressed  syllables,  and  breaks  down  through  lack  of  carrying- 
power  in  the  voice  ;  then  irregular  accents  are  introduced,  and  the 
first  verses  of  the  stanza  receive  five  or  six  accents. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Pl<i ys.  117 

4.  In  alliteration  this  stanza  shows — 
a)  The  type,  in  verse  3. 

h)    Cross  alliteration,  in  verse  8. 

c)  Double  alliteration  with  one  syllable  a  semi-stress,  in  verses  1 
ami  5. 

d)  Alliteration  with  unstressed  syllable,  in  verse  7. 

e)  Deficient  alliteration,  in    verses  2,  4,  and  G. 

/')  The  presence  of  but  little  alliteration  in  the  second  section. 
All  the  stanzas  of  these  York  plays  show  some  irregularities,  but 
many  have  fewer  exceptions  than  this. 

5.  Distinguishing  marks  of  early  formation— 

a)  Lack  of  excessive  alliteration. 

b)  Regularity  of  iambic  movement. 
c\   Typical  rime  in  second  section. 
d)  Absence  of  '  bob.' 

Whether  the  double  quatrain  stanza,  with  structural  alliteration 
and  masculine  rimes  throughout,  is  of  earlier  or  later  construction 
than  examples  17  and  IS,  admits  of  doubt.  I  incline  to  think  it  later, 
and  formed  from  Ex.  IS  by  omitting  the  cauda.  In  any  case  there 
is  proof1  that  the  same  author  wrote  in  both  stanzas  at  a  time  when, 
if  the  evidence  can  be  trusted,  a  poet  usually  confined  his  efforts  to 
one  style  of  English  verse.  The  similarity  of  these  double  quatrains 
to  Ex.  18  is  quickly  seen. 

Ex.   19.     York  Plays  No.  VIII,  last  stanza- 


aba  b  a  b  a  b.a 


U UU: 

OU- 


In  Ex.  IS  the  beginning  of  stanzaic  deterioration,  as  shown  by  ir- 
regularities of  alliteration,  was  noted,  but  in  neither  Ex.  17  nor  Ex. 
IS  was  there  any  variation  from  alternate  riming.  This,  together 
with  masculine  verse  endings,  must  be  retained  so  long  as  conscious- 
ness of  the  origin  of  the  stanza  from  the  English  septenar  is  present. 
But  with  the  loss  of  the  tradition  a  departure  from  the  type  may  be 
expected.  Now  in  the  Latin  stanza  the  entrelacee  rime  was  the 
favorite  ;    therefore    contamination    of    the    English    type   through 


i  See  p.  143.  2  A  curve  should  extend  to  the  last  line,  as  to  the  preceding. 


118 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


entrelacee  rime  might  be  expected.  Furthermore,  as  a  correspon- 
dence between  the  sonnet  and  this  stanza  oftentimes  holds  as  regards 
the  division  into  octet  and  sestet,  so  here  we  might  expect  to  find,  as 
in  the  sonnet,  that  the  cauda  departs  more  readily  from  the  estab- 
lished type  than  does  the  double  quatrain.  Accordingly,  since  we 
have  found  deterioration  in  alliteration  in  the  work  of  this  poet, 
we  need  not  be  surprised  at  finding  entrelacee  rime  in  the  cauda  of 
his  stanza. 

Ex.  20.     York  Plays.     No.  IX.     Stanza  1 . 


o=l 

<_/  =  o 

=  -v. 

o . 

0=0 

=  -J 

0=! 

u=  V 

=  < 

O 1 

u  —  u 

=  <; 

Uz=i 

VU  —  I 

J--T-.    / 

U— II 

uoo  — 

u—  / 

u=» 

u-=  o 

=  ' 

labcdcccd. 


The  author  is  evidently  experimenting,  since  he  misses  through 
1  isertion  of  the  first  line  of  the  cauda  a  favorite  riming  form  of 

the  Coventry  and  Woodkirk  plays,  a  type  that  had  at  a  later  date  a 
profound  influence  upon  the  septenar  stanza. 

The  alliteration  is  excessive,  but  the  iambic  movement  is  fairly 
regular,  and  rime  tests,  as  we  shall  see  later,  go  to  prove  this  play 
the  work  of  the  author  of  X  and  VIII.  Comparison  with  play 
XXVI,  which  follows,  will  immediately  reveal  the  difference  in 
stanza,  although  the  riming  is  the  same. 

Ex.21.     York  Plays.     No.  XXVI.     Stanza  4. 


0<JO=    <~J*J  =    II 

o  =u</ 

O  «  U  O  O   ==  ii 

u    =uv 

ou  tl  O  =    o  ■' 

— —  "    o 

ababababcdcccd. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  119 

The  direction  of  the  deterior.it  i< mi  is  evident.  All  stressed  sylla- 
bles hut  rwo,  and  four  unstressed  syllables,  have  alliteration  in  this 
stau/.a.  Such  overloading  with  alliterative  sounds  destroyed  all 
sense  of  their  proper  function.  The  first  half-verses  have  passed  the 
bounds  of  anapaestic  movement.  The  voice  naturally  places  a  stress 
upon  the  first  unstressed  syllabic,  thus  transforming  the  verse  into 
a  5-stress  line  and  destroying  the  stanza.  It  is  significant  that  this 
quasi  5-stress  line  was  considered  the  most  suitable  for  royal  person- 
ages. Many  instances  might  be  cited  of  this  anticipation  of  'Mar- 
lowe's mighty  line.' 


XIX. 
CERTAIN    STANZAS    OF   THE   MYSTERY   PLAYS. 

The  later  forms  of  the  septenar  stanza  do  not  particularly  concern 
us,  as  they  lie  outside  of  the  Mystery  Plays.  I  will  therefore  pass 
over  them  rapidly,  giving  the  stanzaic  schemes  for  completeness  of 
view  and  for  comparison  with  the  Southern  stanza  toward  which 
they  gravitated. 

Ex.  22.  Prologue  to  the  Eighth  Book  of  the  ./Eneid  by  G;.  in 
Douglas,  date  1513.1     Last  stanza.  * 


I    UU       =  U»UU  =    UU: 

zUUUU  II  C/  =  UU  : 

-     IJ         —U  HO (Hi 

-.  O  (jm  o    =  oo 

ababababcdddc.s 

u  =UU  HUUu  = 

:  UU  '• U  <i  U  — 

UUU   ill)  ii  u  — 


Lines  4  and  5  have  the  same  alliterative  letter,  the  letter  s. 
Ex.   23.     The  Howlate  of  Holland,  date  1450-54."     Stanza  2. 

i  Schipper,  vol.  1,  p.  221. 

2  In  the  first  line,  the  macrons  (— )  should  each  be  read  as  double  macrons  (-),  and 
another  one  should  be  inserted  just  before  the  caesura. 

3  Pinkerton,  vol.  3,  p.  147. 


120 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays 


ov^  = 

ljv; 

II  ^/ 

= 

OO    = 

U   O    =r 

u  u 

=  ' 

II  u 

=' 

OO    : 

O  u  =uuu 

— 

II  y 

= 

CO    : 

U  UU 

<J  o 

= 

M    O 

= 

oo  : 

«u= 

uoo 

= 

it  o 

'  = 

I/O   : 

V  M^zz 

OO 

s 

i«  — 

O  O  - 

O 

uo 

= 

<;" 

c/  = 

UU  ; 

:    O  O 

— 

u  M 

O. ; 

OO 

o== 

uo 

= 

O 

=== 

/oo 

'J  v 

'  = 

UU 

o  o 

O 

CIO   . 

ababababcdddc.i 


Lines  3  and  4  have  the  same  alliterative  letter,  the  letter  b  ;  lines 
5  and  6  have  1  ;  lines  12  and  13  have  b. 

Ex.  24.     Gawan  and  Gologras,4  date  about  1500.     Stanza  3. 


<ju  =000 

=    ii  <j 

=0  U 

=uuu 

=     a  o 

=  o  u 

OO   =   UU 

3=        " 

=  c/u 

=  uu 

=  Oi'0 

=  oo 

uu  =Oo 

=   '1 

=  UU 

ooo  — an 

=       "O 

=  oo 

u  =  oo 

=  o  " 

=  (/o 

==    UU 

=  00  li  o 

OU 

oou  =  ou 

=       fl 

oo 

oo  o 

- —  oo 

OU 

==  oo 

o  u 

—  oo 

OOO 

= 

ababababcdddc.s 


Lines  1  and  2  alliterate  on  f,  lines  5  and  6  on  h,  lines  7  and  8  on 
t,  line  9,  10,  and  11  on  w.  The  introduction  of  feminine  rimes  is 
worthy  of  remark. 

Ex.  25.  The  Anturs  of  Arthur  at  the  Tarnewathelan,"  date  about 
1350.B     Stanza  3. 


o==  OO  =    II    UU 

= 

00=  OO  =    II00O 

o 

u=  Oo  =0"     O 

==   UO: 

'"_".'— tt~  ou  =on  oo 

= 

ooo=  oo  =    ii 

oo. 

Ol»Or=;OOU=0" 

=  ooo 

0=000  =  01'    O 

=        OO: 

00=000=     "    O 

=       OO: 

o 

' OOO: 

ooo 

oo- 

o 

=sjcoo- 

o 

oo  ■■ 

ababababcdddc. 


i  In  the  sixth  line  the  two  macrons  after  the  ccesura  should  be  read  as  one  long 
macron.  2  Pinkerton,  vol.  3,  p.  69.  3  Breve  at  end  of  seventh  line.  *  Robson. 

b  Given  by  Hohlfeld,  Anglia  11,  p.  !M9,  as  on  the  authority  of  ten  Brink. 


Charles  Davidson  —English.  Mystery  Plays.  121 

Lines  1  and  2  alliterate  <>n  g,  lines  3  and  4  on  b,  lines  5  and  6  on  1, 
lines  E  and  9  on  t,  lines  l  2  and  13  on  b. 

So  similar  arc  examples  22,  23,  and  24,  that  I  do  not  hestitate  to 
pronounce  them  products  of  the  same  school.  Examples  23  and  24 
were  possibly  by  the  same  author,  and  written  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Carlisle. 

It  would  seem,  then,  from  the  evidence  of  the  stanza,  that  1500  is 
too  late  for  Gawan  and  Gologras,  and  L 350  a  date  much  too  early 
for  the  '  Anturs.' 

Ex.  26.  Of  Saynt  John  the  Kuaungelist,1  date  about  1440.5 
Stanza  1. 


uu=ouu   = 

>u  =  u  u 

=  ^ 

UOO==      OU     i 

u    =  u  o 

- 

mill.] OU 

>o   ouu 

=   i 

OU O  U    ' 

'      =  o  u 

=  < 

=   (JO=u 

•      =ou 

■=  ■ 

o=  ou  =  o 

'  O  O  V 

=  < 

UU=    uu   = 

tUU 

=  ' 

0=000=     ■ 

o    =    OU 

-=" 

<■'     ou 

Z) 

U     r     OO 

O     Of 

U      OO 

O     OO 

z) 

a  1)  a  n  ;;  b  a  b  c  c  d  c  c  d. 


Each  alliteration  is  carried  through  two  lines.  The  first  short  line 
recasts  the  thought  of  the  last  long  line.  It  is  impossible  to  deter- 
mine with  certainty  whether  these  more  corrupt  forms  are  de- 
scendants of  the  septenar  stanza,  or  are  offshoots  from  the  Southern 
stanzaic  forms. 

Ex.   27.     Susanna,3  date  about  1360.4     Stanza  1. 


uuu 

=  uoo  = 

-      1 

ou 

= 

OOO 

=.    ■=. 

U  i 

o= 

ouu 

uuu 

=00  == 

<;  = 

uu 

uu 

=  0  = 

'< 

w= 

ou 

o 

=  00  = 

u  <> 

uuu 

= 

O  =UUUH 

= 

o 

u 

—  ou 

Oil 

u 

o 

o 

=oo= 

von 

" — ' 

UUU 

uuu 



UU  . 

o 

=0 

OOO; 

uu 



OO- 
00  = 

=    J       ababababcdddc. 


i  E.  B.  T.  S.  No.  26.  2  Schipper,  vol.  1,  p.  220.  3  Anglia,  1,  p.  93. 

i  Schipper,  vol.  1,  p.  219,  given  on  the  authority  of  Horstraanu. 
5  Insert  a  breve  before  last  breve  of  sixth  line. 
Trans.  Co.vv.  Acad.,  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892 


122  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

This  poem  is  assigned  by  Horstmann1  to  the  Northern  dialect,  by- 
Morris,  as  stated  by  Horstmann,  to  the  West-Midland.  The  stanza  is 
found  in  the  Woodkirk  plays  in  '  The  Conspiracy '  and  '  The  As- 
cension.' It  is  one  of  the  favorite  stanzas  in  the  so-called  Coventry 
cycle,  occurring  in  the  following  plays — 

The  Prologue, 

II.  The  Fall  of  Man, 

IV.  Noah's  Flood, 

X.  Mary's  Betrothment, 

XII.  Joseph's  Return, 

XVI.  The  Adoration  by  Shepherds, 

XXI.  The  Baptism  of  Christ, 

XXII.  The  Temptation. 

XXVI.  The  Entry  into  Jerusalem, 

XXVII.  The  Last  Supper, 

XXIX.  King  Herod, 

XLI.  The  Assumption  of  the  Virgin, 

XLII.  Doomsday. 

These  Coventry  plays  are  probably  of  East-Midland  origin.2  The 
same  district  appears  to  have  been  the  locale  of  this  stanza,  which  is 
found  also  in  '  The  Castell  of  Perseverance.' 3  It  would  appear, 
therefore,  that  the  poem  of  Susanna  should  be  assigned  to  a  poet 
south  of  York,  whose  style  was  affected  by  Northern  extravagances 
in  alliteration. 

The  stanza  was  also  of  late  date,  since  it  passed  into  the  Morali- 
ties. 

From  a  fusion  of  the  septenar  stanza  with  this  East-Midland 
stanza  arose  a  new  type  with  the  following  characteristics — 

1.  Alliteration  in  greatest  excess. 

2.  So  great  an  overplus  of  unstressed  syllables  that  the  recitation 
must  have  simulated  chanting  when  the  integrity  of  the  stanza  was 
preserved. 

3.  Surreptitious  sti'ess  increased  the  accents  to  five  and  six  in  a 
line. 

4.  The  rime  of  the  East-Midland  stanza  was  adopted. 

This  measure,  with  the  reiteration  of  alliteration,  was  considered 
the  proper  introduction  for  persons  of  dignity,  and  is  used  in  all  four 
cycles,  although  the  Ch  and  the  Co  soften  greatly  the  alliteration. 
As  the  actor  of  royal  rank  usually  appears  at  the  beginning  of  the 


i  Anglia,  1,  p.  93.  2  Pollard,  p.  XXXVIII.  s  Pollard,  p.  64. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  123 

play,  modification  <>i'  the  play  in  compliance  with  the  taste  of  the 
period  was  an  easy  matter.  This  stanza,  with  various  modifications, 
appears  in  York  plays  XXVIII,  XXIX,  XXX,  XXXI,  XXXIII,  and 
stanzas  or  portions  of  stanzas,  funned  unmistakably  upon  the  same 
verse  pattern,  are  found  in  the  Woodkirk,  the  so-called  Coventry, 
and  even  in  the  Chester  plays. 

This  stanza,  as  the  earlier  septenar,  had  a  life  history  of  change 
and  deterioration.  Sometimes  the  excessively  long  lines  broke  into 
two,  with  riming  caesuras  and  the  development  of  new  stresses.  Such 
verses,  in  process  of  resolution,  exist  in  Pilate's  speech  in  the  Ch 
play.  -The  Resurrection  :' 

For  I  am  prince  pearles, 
Most  royal  man  of  riches, 
I  may  deale  aud  I  may  dresse, 
My  name  is  Sir  Pilate. 

In  these  lines  the  alliteration  has  suffered  injury,  and  the  rime  has 
been  lost.  They  are  a  weak  imitation,  almost  a  prose  version,  of 
such  lines  as  York  XXXII  : 

For  sir  Pilate  of  pounce  as  prince  am  y  preued 
As  lenke  most  myall  in  richeste  array— 

and  the  Woodkirk  '  Flagellation  : ' 

Say.  wote  ye  not  that  I  am  Pylate,  perles  to  behold  ? 
An  earlier  form  of  the  same  appears  in  W,  '  Consp.  &  Captio  : ' 

Cayphas. 

Syr  Pilate,  prince  of  mekylle  price. 
That  prevyd  is  withoutten  pere— 

which  lines  form  the  beginning  of  an  a  b  a  b  a  b  a  b  c  d  c  d  stanza. 

Furthermore,  the  bonds  of  rime  were  loosened,  and  sometimes  the 
long  lines  passed  towards  the  boundaries  of  rhythmical  prose.  This 
is  illustrated  by  Y  XXXI,  "And  drawe  to  no  drofyng,  but  dresse 
you  to  drede,  with  dasshis,"  where  "drede"  rimes  with  the  second 
line  below,  and  "dasshis"  with  the  fourth;  also  by  Y  XXXII,  1.  10, 
where  "To  knawe"  has  no  affiliation  with  the  verse  structure,  and 
calls  to  mind  similar  versification  in  legends  and  romances. 

Again,  the  breaking  of  stanzaic  structure  by  the  indefinite  exten- 
sion of  the  pedes  of  the  stanza,  as  in  Y  XXXII,  stanza  2  ;  in  Co 
XV,  in  Joseph's  second  speech  ;  in  Sir  Gawain  and  The  Green 
Knight,  and  elsewhere,  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  species  of 
verse,  riming  in  most  cases  it  is  true,  but  with  an  irregular  suc- 
cession of  stresses  and  tending  toward  a  rhythmical  prose.  An 
investigation  of  the  transformation  and  relationship  of  this  stanza 
would  yield  rich  results,  but  we  must  leave  it  as  a  task  for  others. 


J  24  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

A  fourth  stanza  invites  our  attention.      In  the  French  a  simple 
4-accent  couplet  was  popular  at  an  eai'ly  date. 
Ex.  27. 

\J !_/ V^ U N 

VJ  v  <-> v  ^ 

V  v^  w  w  N 

In  this  measure  were  written  the  'Roman  de  Brut'  of  Wace,  the 
'Roman  de  Rou,"  '  Guillaume  D'Engleterre,'  and  many  others.  In 
English  it  is  preserved  in  such  ballads  as  'A  mery  Ballet  of  the 
Hawthorne  Tree,'2  and  in  other  styles  of  verse  too  familiar  for 
reference. 

These  couplets  were  early  fashioned  into  stanzas  by  the  insertion 
of  a  short  line,  riming  with  the  second  couplet,  and  became  popular 
in  the  15th  century  with  the  French  writers  of  Miracles.  The  stanza 
occurs  repeatedly  in  '  Les  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame.' 

Ex.  28. 

«j \j v u < 

V V V \J ' 

V \J «v 

V V  u  v J 

This  type  probably  gave  rise  to  the  English  stanza — 
Ex.  29. 

\J  \J  \J  u  \ 

\j \j  \j  y  ' 

\J   W  w  v 

W yj  u  u  v\ 

u u  u  v  1 J 

but  the  method  of  riming  is,  regularly  in  English,  the  riming  of  sim- 
ilar verses,  never  in  a  succession  of  stanzas,  as  in  French,  by  '  con- 
catenation3 

This  stanza  is  found  in  the  Woodkirk  plays  as  follows — 

I.  Creation,  the  character  of  Deus. 

X.  Annunciation,  the  play  exclusive  of  Deus. 

XI.  Mary  and  Elizabeth. 

XII.  The  Crucifixion,  together  with  other  stanzas. 

XXVIII.  The  Incredulity  of  Thomas,  with  other  stanzas. 

It  is  used  also  for  the  second  part  of  'Sir  Ferumbras,' 4  for  'The 
Woman  of  Samaria,'6  for  Minot's  'Edward  in  Brabant,'6  and  else- 
where. 

i  Bartsch,  col.  Ill,  col.  143.  2  Ritson,  vol.  2,  p.  44.  3  Cp.  Schipper  in  index. 

*  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  34.       6  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  49,  p.  84.       e  Poems  of  Lawrence  Minot,  p.  13. 


Charles  Davidson — Englisli  Jli/steri/  Plays.  125 

With  the  more  difficult  rime  a  a  b  a  a  b,  this  stanza  occurs  also  in 
the  Woodkirk  plays — 

VII.     The  Prophets. 
IX.     Caesar  Augustus. 
XXII.     The  Flagellation,  in  the  part  of  the  Tormentors. 

Also  in  the  Chester  play.  The  Shepherds,  among  other  stanzas. 

This  stanza  is  interesting  as  the  germ  of  the  metrical-romance 
stanza,  which  was  possibly  rejected  by  the  writers  of  drama  as  too 
monotonous.     The  following  partial  lists  will  illustrate  its  use — 

a  a  1>  a  a  b  c  c  b  c  c  b. 

Romance  of  Duke  Rowlande  and  of  Sir  Ottuell  of  Spayne.1 
a  a  b  a  a  b  c  c  b  d  d  b. 

Amis  and  Amiloun,4 

Libius  Disconius,3 

The  King  of  Tars,3 

Mary  Legend,  Xo.  II.4 

a  a  b  c  e  b  d  d  b  e  e  b. 

The  Romance  of  Athelston,5 

Emare.6 

Romance  of  the  Emporor  Octavian,7 

Erl  of  Tolous  and  the  Emperes  of  Almayn,8 

Le  Bone  Florence  of  Rome,9 

Sir  Isumbras.10 

Rouland  and  Vernagu," 

Torrent  of  Portyngale,12 

The  Wright's  Chaste  Wife,13 

Sir  Amadace,14  etc. 

Certain  other  stanzas  were  of  wide-spread  use,  and  appear  in  the 
different  cycles  of  Mystery  Plays.  Of  their  origin  it  is  sufficient  to 
.say  in  general  that  they  sprang,  for  the  most  part,  from  the  Latin 
stanzaic  forms  of  the  church  service,  especially  from  the  service  of 
song.     Some  of  them,  also,  show  evident  marks  of  French  influence, 


i  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  35.  2  KBlbing,  No.  2. 

3  Ancient  English  Metrical  Romances. 

•*  Horstmann,  p.  503.— Note.  Kolbing's  criticism,  Amis  and  Amiloun,  p.  XIV,  of 
Horstmann's  statement  concerning-  the  rime,  is  itself  incorrect,  as  Horstmann  speaks 
of  the  Mary  Legend,  Xo.  II,  but  Kolbing  of  the  Mary  Legend,  No.  I. 

5  Keliqua?  Antiquae,  vol.  1.  p.  85.  '"  Ancient  Metrical  Romances,  vol.  2. 

»  J.  O.  Halliwell.  s  G.  Liidthe. 

s  Ancient  English  Metrical  Romances.       10  J.  O.  Halliwell.  »  E.  E.  T.  S.  No.  30. 

12  E.  E.  T.  S.  Extra  Series,  No.  51.  '3  E.  E.  T.  S.  Xo.  14.        u  Robson. 


126  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  lPlays. 

and  it  is  probable  that  the  sources  of  some  are  to  be  sought  for  in 
the  Provencal.  A  general  view,  as  exhaustive  as  seems  necessary 
for  our  purpose,  is  appended,     a  a  b  a  b.     Ex.  30. 


; —  u  — u  1 

> \J  — u  J 

I V  W  4 

I W   V  / 


it- 
is  found  in  six  stanzas  spoken  by  Lucifer,  W  I. 

a  a  a  b  a  b. 

York  VI,  XXII,  XXXVIII,  XLII. 

Woodkirk  XIV,  XXVII,  XXXII,  XXVI  (in  the  part  spoken  by 
Jesus). 

aaabaaab  and  a  a  a  b  c  c  c  b. 

Woodkirk  XVII,  XXIII  (Mary's  lament),  XXIV  (the  Torment- 
ors), XXIX  (certain  stanzas). 

Coventry  XIV  (a  portion  of  the  play),  XVI  (stanzas  by  shep- 
herds), XVII  (stanzas  by  Magi,  and  certain  2-accent  stanzas),  XIX 
(one  stanza),  XXVII  (by  Judas  in  part),  XXXII  (by  Jews  and 
others),  XXXIII,  XXXIV  (by  Xychodemus),  XXXV  (in  4-accent 
and  2-accent  verses),  XXXVI  (in  part). 

Chester.  The  whole  Chester  cycle  was  written  by  a  poet  who  at- 
tempted to  use  the  stanza  a  aAb  a  aAb,  but  frequently  resorted  to 
a  a  b  c  c  b  as  an  easier  stanza,  and  sometimes  lost  his  footing  com- 
pletely. 

a  a  a  a  b  c  c  c  b. 

Woodkirk  III,  XII,  XIII,  XVI,  XX,  XXI,  XXII,  XXIV  (certain 
stanzas),  XXX  (in  stanzas  by  demons). 

Many  modifications  of  these  stanzas  appear  infrequently  in  the 
plays.  We  note  in  closing  our  review  a  favorite  stanza  of  the  Cov- 
entry plays,  a  b  a  b  b  c  b  c,  from  which  it  is  but  a  step  to  Spenser. 

Finally,  we  form  from  the  foregoing  examination  of  the  stanzas  of 
English  in  the  mediaeval  period  certain  conclusions — 

1.  A  distinctive  stanza,  formed  from  the  sept  en  ar  line,  obtained 
in  the  district — to  speak  in  general  terms — extending  from  the  Hum- 
ber  to  the  Forth  ;  and  was  not  used,  except  in  a  much  altered  form, 
outside  of  those  limits. 

2.  The  characteristics  of  this  stanza  were— 

a)  Two  4-verse,  l-stress  pedes  ;  a  4-verse  or  6-verse  3-stress  cauda. 

b)  The  pedes  rimed  in  two  riming  quatrains  :  the  cauda  originally 
rimed  alternately,  but  variation  was  permissible. 

c)  The  verse  kept  carefully  the  iambic  movement. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  Il'7 

d)  The  caesura  was  uniformly  placed  after  the  second  stress,  ex- 
ceptionally after  the  first  and  third.1 

e)  Caesuras  and  verses  were  masculine. 

/')  Alliteration  was  structural,  i.  e.  confined  to  three  stressed  syl- 
lables in  I  he  verse. 

3.  This  stanza  suffered  direct  change  in  three  ways— 

a)  By  continual  increase  of  alliteration. 

b)  Through  the  inordinate  multiplication  of  unstressed  syllables, 
especially  in  the  first  half-verses. 

c)  Through  innovations  in  the  riming  of  the  cauda. 

4.  These  changes  were  so  pronounced  in  type  and  limited  in  time, 
that  the  stanza  affords  important  evidence  in  dating  poems  relatively 
to  each  other.2 

5.  A  stanza  riming  abab  ababcdddc  was  cultivated  in 
East  Anglia  at  a  date  somewhat  later  than  that  of  the  Northern 
stanza  of  pure  type. 

6.  The  Northern  stanza,  under  the  influence  of  the  contiguous 
East  Anglian  stanza,  formed  a  second  distinct  type. 

7.  This  derived  stanza  developed  as  follows — 

a)  By  the  loosening  of  the  bonds  of  stanzaic  structure,  the  pedes 
were  indefinitely  extended,  and  the  composition  approached  the 
bounds  of  rhythmical  prose  ;  or, 

b)  The  voice  failed  to  carry  the  excessive  number  of  unstressed 
syllables,  surreptitious  stresses  created  a  5-stress  line,  or  the  verse 
broke  into  two  lines  with  the  development  of  new  stresses. 

8.  A  stanza  aabaabccbccb  was  formed  for  rhythmical 
narrative,  and  became  the  vehicle  of  the  metrical  romance. 

9.  Other  stanzas  appear  as  directly  dependent  upon  church  sources 
and  French  influences. 

10.  A  stanza  ababbcbc  closes  the  mediaeval  period.  This 
statement  applies  more  directly  to  the  district  immediately  north  of 
the  Thames. 

The  cycles  of  Mystery  plays  present  certain  metrical  characteris- 
tics as  individual  cycles — 

1.  The  York  cycle,  with  the  exception  pi  a  few  plays,3  retains  one 
stanzaic  structure  through  a  play,  or,  in  some  cases,  through  a  scene. 

l'.  The  Woodkirk  plays  show  an  attempt  to  adapt  the  stanza  to  the 
character,  or  at  least  to  limit  the  use  of  a  given  stanza  to  one  char- 
acter in  a  given  play. 


iCp.  Ex.  19.  «Cp.  Ex.  24. 

»Cp.  York  XII,  XIII,  XVI,  XXIX,  XXXI,  XXXII,  XL. 


128  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

3.  The  Coventry  plays  exhibit  prevailingly  an  interchange  of 
three  stanzas,  the  choice  apparently  influenced  only  by  a  desire  for 
variety. 

4.  The  Chester  plays  are,  as  uniformly  as  an  author  of  limited 
poetical  resources  could  make  them,  cast  in  the  mold  of  one  stanzaic 
form. 

The  importance  of  the  foregoing  conclusions  in  determining  the 
structure  of  the  cycles  of  plays  is  evident.  We  proceed  now  to  the 
defense  of  certain  propositions  relating  to  the  cycles  themselves. 


XX. 
A  SURVEY  OF  THE  CYCLES  OF  MYSTERY  PLAYS. 

In  considering  the  cycles  of  plays  as  wholes,  certain  general  struc- 
tural characteristics  appear.  A  discussion  of  these  will  prepare  us 
for  a  more  minute  investigation  of  cycle  construction. 

I.  The  York  cycle  contains  plays  of  widely  different  styles  and 
vocabulary.  Such  plays  as  X  and  XI  have  little  in  common  with 
XXXI  and  XXXII,  and  still  less  with  XLYI.  The  differences  are 
not  such  as  arise  from  an  unskillful  re-working  of  an  old  play.  Such 
scribal  changes  are  found  in  Woodkirk  '  Pharao,'  when  compared 
with  York  XI.     They  lead  to  the  distortion  of  the  stanza — 

a)  By  the  insertion  of  extra-stanzaic  verses,  as  the  quatrain  in  W 
after  the  first  stanza,  or  the  two  verses  separating  the  cauda  from 
the  pedes  in  stanza  22. 

b)  By  the  breaking  of  rime,  as  in  stanza  25. 

c)  By  the  disarrangement  or  obliteration  of  the  alliteration  through 
the  displacement  of  alliterative  words  by  non-alliterative  synonyms, 
as  through  the  substitution  of  'words'  for  'saws'  in  1.  17,  or  by  the 
complete  loss  of  alliteration  in  1.  23. 

d)  By  the  destruction  of  the  iambic  movement,  as  in  lines  21,  39, 
52,  53,  etc. 

e)  By  the  loss  of  a  stress,  as  in  line  28. 

The  differences  between  the  above-named  plays  are  not  of  this 
character,  but  fundamental.     They  concern — 

a)  The  structure  of  the  line,  which  in  XXXI  and  XXXII  is  ex- 
cessive in  alliteration,  inordinate  in  length,  irregular  in  rime,  and 
contains  occasionally  an  unusual  tag,  as  line  10,  XXXII. 


Charles  Davidson — 'English  Mystery  Plays.  129 

b)  The  riming,  as  in  XLVJ,  where  the  repetition  of  'hym,''us,' 
and  the  frequenl  use  of  words  ending  in  '  ioun  '  is  a  habit  unknown 
to  the  author  of  X  and  XI. 

c)  The  vocabulary  of  the  writer,  in  eases  where  there  is  do  ques- 
tion of  the  subsl  it  nt ion  of  a  more  familiar  synonym.  Examples  of 
such  usage  are  'bewscheris'  and  many  quasi-French  words  (cp.  line 
l'.">7,  XXXI).  and  the  employment  of  words  of  Latin  origin  which 
were  used  in  riming  as  an  ornament  of  style,  especially  such  as  end 
in  'ioun.' 

These  affectations  in  riming  we  recognize,  from  later  plays  and 
from  other  poetical  works,  as  the  ornaments  of  style  at  a  period  later 
than  the  origin  of  plays  X  and  XI. 

The  municipal  books  of  York  show  that  expansion  or  contraction 
of  the  cycle,  according  to  the  present  needs  of  the  different  crafts,1 
was  of  common  occurrence.  Such  changes  were  made  by  the  inser- 
tion or  excision  of  whole  scenes,  or  of  whole  plays,  never  by  the 
fusion  of  plays.  This  will  become  clear  as  we  proceed  to  the  more 
minute  analysis. 

IT.  The  Woodkirk  cycle"  is  a  collection  of  plays  drawn  from 
various  sources.  The  compiler  was  a  man  of  small  poetical  ability. 
His  original  verse  was  confined  to  couplets,  with  an  occasional  at- 
tempt at  quatrains.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  appropriate  good  work 
wherever  he  found  it,  or  to  do  violence  to  rime  or  measure,  if  he  con- 
sidered the  thought  unclear  or  contrary  to  accepted  traditions. 

As  illustrations  of  his  methods  we  cite — 

1.  For  transition  between  selected  parts  of  plays,  the  sixteen 
verses  by  cherubim  between   the  first  speech  of  Deus  and  that  of 

i  York  plays,  pp.  XIV  to  XXVI,  notes. 

2  Hall,  Englische  Studien,  vol.  9,  p.  449,  argues  that  Y  is  derived  from  W  because  it 
contains  more  alliteration!  He  arrives  at  this  conclusion  by  trusting  implicitly  to 
Skeat's  "  Law  of  progress  in  alliterative  poetry."  Preface  to  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  p.  X. 
If,  as  Skeat  formulates  it,  the  progress  is  "  from  lines  with  two  alliterated  letters  to  lines 
with  three,  and  in  very  late  instances,  to  lines  with  four,"  from  irregularity  to  regular- 
ity—although he  admits  that  some  of  the  latest  examples  of  alliterative  verse  relapses 
into  irregularity;"— then  I  do  not  see  how  Hall's  conclusion  can  be  escaped.  But  the 
law  seems  to  run  as  well  from  no  alliteration  to  two  alliterated  words.  In  that  case 
the  re-creation  of  the  old  alliteration  after  the  literature  containing  it  had  been  buried 
for  centuries  would  be  little  short  of  a  miracle. 

On  the  contrary,  the  old  laws  of  alliteration  were  preserved  by  the  North  in  continu- 
ous tradition.  A  sharp  division  must  be  made  between  structural  alliteration,  which 
conforms  to  ancient  law,  and  alliteration  for  ornament,  which  gradually  broke  down 
the  tradition  of  the  fathers  by  swamping  the  essentials  in  a  multitude  of  detail.  We 
have  already  traced  the  progress  of  demoralization,  and  need  only  note  that  it,  in  con- 
formity with  other  evidences,  makes  W  the  later  dependent  cycle  so  fa  r  as  concerns  the 
older  plays  of  the  collection. 


MWn* 


130  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Lucifer  in  Creatio.  These  couplets  seem  to  be  a  condensation  of 
some  unknown  play. 

2.  For  introduction,  the  four  couplets  introducing  the  call  of 
Deus,  "  Abraham,  Abraham,"  in  the  play  of  Abraham. 

:;.  For  expansion  of  thought  or  to  convey  indirectly  a  lesson,  many 
quatrains — sometimes  only  three  verses — that  are  usually  introduced 
between  stanzas,  as  in  'Pharao'  after  1.  13, '  1.  108,  1.  120;  in  'Pagina 
Doctorum'  after  1.  173,  1.  174,  1.  175. 

4.  For  plays  of  transition  where  the  compiler  desired  that  certain 
incidents  of  the  Bible  should  be  made  prominent,  and  could  find  no 
suitable  play,  the  drama  of  Isaac — Isaac  blessing  Jacob — and  that  of 
Jacob — when  Jacob  was  named  Israel. 

5.  For  plays  that  are  formed  from  two  or  more  plays  by  the  use 
of  selected  stanzas  or  parts  of  stanzas,  '  Flagellacio'  and  'Extractio 
Animarum.'  To  this  compiler,  however,  we  are  indebted  for  the 
preservation  of  the  second  '  Shepherd  Play,'  our  earliest  farce,  and  for 
the  'Judicium,'  which,  in  the  part  of  Tutivillus,"  contains  a  satire  on 
the  fashions  and  manners  of  the  day. 

III.  The  Chester  plays  are,  as  Hohlfeld  has  well  said,  the  work  of 
a  translator.3  I  incline,  however,  to  the  opinion  that  the  cycle  was 
not  French,  but  Anglo-Norman.  The  agreements  with  the  other 
cycles  are  significant.      They  include — 

1.  '  The  Salutation, '  which  shows  agreement  among  Ch,  Y,  W,  and 
S  A-  T  of  Co. 

2.  'The  Purification,'  which  shows  agreement  among  Ch,  Y,  W, 
and  W  of  Co. 

3.  The  Song  of  Jesus,  where  there  is  agreement  between  Ch  and  W. 

4.  In  'Christ  Betrayed'  the  agreement  between  Ch  and  W  in  two 
lino  accompanying  the  stroke  of  the  sword. 

To  these  may  be  added  the  distinctively  English  passages — 

1.  The  gossips1  song,  Ch  I,  p.  53. 

2.  The  part  of  Mulier,  Ch  II,  p.  81. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  the  Song  of  Jesus  and  the  gossips'  song 
are  later  additions,  that  'The  Purification''  is  an  adaptation  of  the 
York  play  ;  still,  'The  Salutation*  is  in  the  stanza  of  the  cycle  and 
probably  by  the  same  translator  ;  therefore  not  all  of  these  agree- 
ments arose  from  the  late  adoption  of  plays  from  other  cycles. 


i  The  verse-numbers  apply  to  the  corresponding  York  play. 

»  (']>.  Tuteville  in  Rodentiner  <  »sterspiel,  pp.  49,  50.    The  coincidence  appears  to  arise 
by  independent  derivation  from  'toute-vilain.' 
Anglia,  vol.  11. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  131 

The  wide  agreement  in  these  plays  seems  to  me  to  argue  a  common 
knowledge  of  models  existing  in  England.  These  models  may  have 
been  in  pari  Anglo-Norman,  as  the  cycle  of  the  Parish  Clerks  of  Lon- 
don probably  was.  Most  of  them  were  undoubtedly  church  plays, 
would  be  often  in  Latin,  possibly  sometimes  in  Anglo-Norman,  and 
often  in  English.1 

'The  continual  presence  of  plays  in  the  churches  upon  appropriate 
festival  days  must  be  assumed.  Few  remains  of  such  plays  are  ex- 
tant, but  the  known  opposition  of  the  reforming  party  to  these 
plays,  and  the  efficient  zeal  of  King  Henry's  spoilers,  would  satisfac- 
torily account  for  their  destruction  with  the  dispersion  of  libraries 
that  were  their  proper  repositories.  The  repeated  enactment  of  im- 
perative laws"  forbidding  plays  in  the  churches,  the  presence  of  sep- 
ulchres in  many  churches  to-day,  and  the  occasional  references  to 
them  in  hostile  writings,3  are  conclusive  evidences  of  their  presence. 

A  mistaken  interpretation  of  phenomena  presented  by  the  plays 
has  often  arisen  through  the  failure  to  give  due  weight  to  two  facts 
that  concern  the  church  customs  of  that  day.  It  may  be  well  to  in- 
terrupt for  a  moment  the  course  of  this  discussion  to  present  those 
facts. 

First,  the  solidarity  of  custom,  as  well  as  of  belief,  throughout  the 
churches  of  England  and  France.  This  gave  rise  to  a  uniformity  of 
method  and  expression  in  the  mystery  plays,  which  resulted  in  such 
striking  similarities  between  jdays  formed  on  models  used  in  the 
churches  of  England  and  those  that  arose  from  other  models  on  the 
continent,  that  oftentimes  direct  dependence  of  the  English  play 
upon  the  French  has  been  asserted,  when,  very  possibly,  each  author 
knew  no  plays  but  those  of  his  own  cathedral  church  and  immediate 
neighborhood.  Churches  are  conservative  bodies,  slow  to  change 
their  customs  ;  therefore  the  church  plays  would  diverge  from  their 
common  type  very  slowly.  They  were  viewed  almost  as  parts  of  the 
liturgy. 


5  ■>■  the  ■  .Mystery  of  the  Burial  of  Christ,'  'Off  the  Wepiuge  of  the  Thre  Maries,' 
and  the  -.Mystery  of  the  Resurrection,'  given  in  Wright's  Reliquige  Antiquae,  vol.  1, 
pp.  124-161.  These  are  English  church  mysteries,  which  have  been  passed  by  without 
remark  by  writers  upon  this  sublet. 

2  The  chief  trace  that  the  old  hierarchy  left  of  its  dramatic  existence  was  the  acting  of 
plays  in  the  churches,  which  was  finally  ordered  to  be  discontinued  by  proclamation  in 
1512,  hut  was  continued  by  choristers  of  St.  Paul  and  of  the  Chapel  Royal  until  the  time 
of  Chas.  I.— Hone,  p.  229.  In  1603,  canon  88  of  the  canons  of  the  Church  of  England 
enacted  that  church-wardens  should  not  sutler  plays  in  churches,  chapels,  or  church- 
yards.— Encycldpaedia  Britanniea  s.  v.  Theatre. 

3  'The  Beehive  of  the  Komish  Church'  speaks  of  the  shows  of  Burial,  Resurrection, 
etc.— Hone,  p.  221. 


132  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Secondhr,  if  the  tradition  was  preserved  through  acted  church 
plays  rather  than  through  the  importation  and  re-casting  of  texts, 
the  agreement  between  plays  will  be  different  in  kind.  The  corres- 
pondence arising  through  the  remodeling  of  plays  we  can  study  in 
the  Woodkirk  cycle,  when  compared  with  the  York.  They  are 
found  throughout  the  body  of  the  text,  usually  in  whole  stanzas  or 
in  considerable  portions  of  stanzas,  wherever  the  thought  seemed 
pleasing  to  the  compiler.  The  agreements,  arising  from  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  play  as  acted,  will  lie  in  certain  notable  actions  that  are 
conventionally  present  in  every  church  play,  and  in  the  appropriate 
speech  that  goes  with  such  action. 

A  few  examples,  drawn  from  French  and  Italian  sources,  and 
placed  in  comparison  with  the  English  plays,  will  illustrate  my  posi- 
tion. 

In  J,1  p.  5,  Dieu  takes  Adam  and  Eve  by  the  hand  and  tells  them 
,of  the  tree. 

In  V  T,2  vol.  1,  p.  34,  Dieu  takes  Adam  and  Eve  by  the  hand, 
pronounces  benediction  of  marriage,  and  shows  them  the  tree. 

In  W,  p.  6,  Cherubyn  takes  Adam  by  the  hand  and  the  Lord 
speaks  about  the  tree. 

In  Ch,  vol.  1,  p.  24,  God  takes  Adam  by  the  hand  after  the  dis- 
course and  causes  him  to  lie  down.3 

Eve's  address  to  Adam  when  offering  him  the  apple — 
In  J,  p.  8,  Adam,  chier  compains  et  amis. 
In  Ch,  vol.  1,  ]>.  28,  Adam,  husbande,  life  and  deare. 
In  Co,  p.  28,  My  semely  spouse  and  good  husband. 
In  W  the  play  is  lost. 

Adam  eats — exclaims,  then  a)  accuses  Eve,  or  b)  perceives  naked- 
ness, or  c)  combines  the  two. 

In  J,  p.  9,  Ha  hay  !  je  suy  mal  avoiez. 

Ce  morcel  ne  puis  avaler. 
In  V  T  I,  p.  49,     O  vray  Dieu,  de  moy  te  souvienne  ! 

Poo  re  maleureux,  que  ay  je  fait? 
In  Y,  p.  25,  Alias  !   what  haue  I  done,  for  shame  ! 

Ille  counsaille  woo  worthe  the! 

A  !  Eve,  J>ou  art  to  blame. 

i  J  stands  for  Mysteres  inedits  par  Achille  Jubinal. 
iVT  stands  for  Viol  Testament. 

a  A  similarity  here  with  V  T  leads  to  the  supposition  that  God  also  led  Adam  into 
Paradise  and  showed  him  the  tree. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  133 

In  Ch  I,  ]».  29,       Out!  alas!  what  aylith  me? 
I  am  nacked  \\  ell  I  see ; 
Woman,  cursed  moth  thou  be. 

In  Co,  p.  27,  Alas!  alas!   ffor  this  lals  dede, 

My  flesly  frend  my  fo  I  fynde, 
Schamefu]  synne  doth  us  unhede, 
I  se  us  nakyd  before  and  behynde. 

In  "NY  the  play  is  lost. 

The  exclamations  of  devils  in  torment — 
In  J,  p.  24,  Belgibuz, — Harou,  je  suis  tout  forsonnez. 
In  Y.  T,  vol.  1,  p.  18,  Lucifer, — Harau,  Harau  !  je  me  repens. 
In  Y,  p.  5,  Lucifer, — Owte,  owte  !  harrowe  !  helples,  slyke  bote  at1 
es  here. 

In  W,  p.  4,  Demon, — Alas,  alas,  and  wele-wo  ! 

In  X,2  Diabolus, — Put  off  Harro,  and  well  away. 

In  Ch,  vol.  1,  p.  17,  Demon, — Out !  harrowe  !  wher  is  our  mighte. 

The  salutation — 

In  J,  Gabriel  —         Ave  Maria  gratia  plena. 

Marie,  Dieu  te  sault,  Marie. 

In  D,3  vol.  1,  p.  18S,  Gabbriello,— 

Salviti  Dio,  che  se'  di  grazia  piena  : 
Teco  si  trova  il  gran  Signore  Dio. 

In  Y,  p.  98,  Angel — Hayle  !  Marie !  full  of  grace  and  blysse, 
Oure  lord  god  is  with  J»e. 

In  W,  p.  74,  Gabriel- 
Hay  He,  Mary,  and  welle  thou  be, 
My  lord  of  heveu  is  wyth  the. 

In  Ch,  vol.  1,  p.  94,  Gabriell— 

Heale  be  thou,  Marye,  mother  ffree, 
Full  of  grace,  God  is  with  thee. 

In  Co,  p.  J 12,  Gabriel— 

Ave  Maria  gratia  plena,  Dominus  tecum  ! 
Heyl,  fful  of  grace,  God  is  with  the. 

Mary's  consent  — 

In  J,  p.  50,  Ainssy  soit  fait  com  tu  me  dis. 

In  D,  vol.  1  p.  189,  Ecco  l'Ancilla  del  Signore  Dio  : 

Sia  fatto  a  me  secondo  il  tuo  dir  pio.' 

i  The  use  of  the  pronoun  'at'  shows  the  expression  to  be  old,  otherwise  the  scribe 
•would  have  changed  it  as  elsewhere.  The  evident  introduction  of  'helples1  to  alliter- 
ate with  '  harrowe '  shows  that  the  favorite  expletive  was  considered  necessary. 

2  N  stands  for  Noah's  Ark,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Sharp's  Diss.  p. :-':.'). 

s  D  stands  for  A.  D'Ancona,  Sacre  Rappresentazioni. 

*  See  the  extract  of  the  church  service  on  p.  17!*  of  the  same  work. 


134  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

In  Y,  p.  99,  Goddis  h  an  dm  ay  den,  lo  !  me  here, 

To  his  wille  all  redy  grayd. 
In  W,  p.  75,  I  am  Lis  madyn  at  his  hand. 

In  Ch,  vol.  1,  p.  95,  Loe  !  Godes  cossen  meklye  here. 
In  Co,  p.  114,  Se  here  the  hand-mayden  of  oure  Lorde, 

Aftyr  thi  worde  be  it  don  to  me. 

The  stage  direction — 

In  J,  p.  50,  Cy  descende  1  coulom  qui  soit  fait  par  bonne  maniere. 

In  D,  p.  189,  Allora  lo  Spirito  Santo  discende  sopra  di  lei,  ed  in 

cielo  si  fa  grandissima  festa,  e  l'Angelo  ritorna  in 

cielo. 
In  Co,  p.  114.     Here  the  Holy  Gost  discendit   with  iij.  bemys  to 

our  Lady,  the  sone  of  the  Godhed  vest  with  iij. 

bemys  to  the  Holy  Gost,  the  fadyr  Godly  with  iij. 

bemys  to  the  sone,  and  so  entre  alle  thre  to  her 

bosom,  and  Mary  seyth. 

It  is  absurd  to  suppose,  because  of  the  above  coincidences,  that 
the  writer  of  each  English  play  had  the  Italian  and  French  plays  be- 
fore him.  The  Bible  narrative  was  familiar  to  each  writer.  This 
sometimes  necessitates  the  action,  sometimes  the  language  seems  the 
natural  outcome  of  the  situation  ;  both  reasons  would  operate  as  con- 
servative agents  to  prevent  change  in  the  church  play.  I  think  one 
is  forced  to  admit  that  there  must  have  been  a  uniformity  of  action 
and  of  expressions  closely  connected  with  action,  in  the  important 
situations  in  church  plays,  similar  to  that  obtaining  in  the  liturgy 
itself,  and  that,  in  many  instances,  the  agreements  of  plays  in  short 
passages  and  in  the  sequence  of  action  is  due  to  the  essential  identity 
of  the  church  models  from  which  these  plays  sprang. 

But  further,  if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  action  of  the  Chester  plays 
agrees  with  the  action  of  other  English  plays  at  points  where  all  or 
several  disagree  in  action  or  accompanying  words  with  the  continen- 
tal plays,  a  divergence  of  the  English  church  plays  from  the  customs 
of  the  continent  will  be  established,  and  the  Chester  plays  will  fall 
into  the  category  of  English  plays,  though  in  the  Anglo-Norman 
tongue. 

Unfortunately,  the  French  texts  necessary  for  the  settlement  of 
this  question  are  not  accessible  to  me.  I  can  simply  contribute  one 
item,  and  must  pass  on  to  other  matters.  A  significant  agreement 
between  Ch  and  W  may  be  a  case  in  point.  I  refer  to  Peter's 
speech  after  cutting  off  the  ear  of  Malchus, — 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays.  135 

In  Ch,  vol.  2,  p.  31,  Goe  nowe  to  Cayphas, 

And  byde  hym  doc  the  righte. 

In  W,  p.  IBS,  Go  pleyn  the  to  Sir  Cayphas, 

And  byd  hym  do  the  right. 

The  language  in  Y  and  in  J  is  different,  although  the  situation  is 
the  same.     We  return  now  to  the  discussion  of  the  cycles. 

IV".  ^2The  so-called  Coventry  plays  arc,  I  think,  the  work  of  one 
author.  They  are  of  late  date,  I  should  say  of  the  early  part  of  tin 
sixteenth  century.  They  have  little  or  no  direct  dependence  upon 
the  other  cycles.  It  has  been  shown  as  probable  that  they  were 
written  in  the  northern  part  of  East  Anglia. 

I  am  relnctant  to  advance  a  theory  for  their  origin,  since  I  cannot 
offer  sufficient  confirmatory  data,  but  I  would  suggest  that  they  may 
be  the  work  of  some  author  connected  with  one  of  the  great  religious 
houses  of  the  Fen  District.  These  plays  appear  to  me  to  rest  upon 
church  plays  that  have  received  their  development  at  the  hands  of 
those  closely  connected  with  the  ceremonial  of  religious  life. 

It  might  be  expected  that  plays,  made  in  such  a  house  for  the 
instruction  and  diversion  of  rustics,  would  emphasize  the  homiletic 
element,  and  would  draw  largely  upon  the  Apocrypha.1  The  fre- 
quent intrusion  of  Latin  with  explanatory  verses  was  also  a  char- 
acteristic of  church  plays.  The  stanzas  of  dimeters,  pp.  159,  164, 
180,  348,  353,  simulate  the  Latin  hymns  of  the  Christinas  time  and 
of  the  Resurrection  service.  A  certain  restraint  pervades  the  plays, 
very  different  from  the  spontaneity  of  the  York  and  Woodkirk  plays. 

It  would  seem  that  these  plays  were  recast  by  one  writer  into 
cyclic  form.  The  fragmentary  condition  of  many  stanzas  may 
arise  in  part  from  imperfect  re-working  of  the  material  ;  but  this 
conclusion  cannot  be  drawn  with  confidence,  since  at  this  date  the 
alternation  of  stanzaic  schemes  within  a  single  play  or  poem  seems 
oftentimes  to  have  been  favored  for  the  sake  of  variety.  I  have 
nothing  to  offer  concerning  the  indications  that  the  cycle  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  traveling  troupe,  monkish  or  otherwise. 

V.  The  craft  plays  of  Coventry  were  in  close  connection  with  the 
York  and  Woodkirk  cycles,  as  is  proved  by  the  dependence  of  the 
Weavers'  play  of  Coventry  and  the  '  Pagina  Doctorum'  of  Woodkirk 
upon  York  XX.  A  common  source  must,  I  think,  be  postulated  for 
the  Coventry  'Xativitv,'  the  Chester  'Salutation,'  and  the  York  XII. 


i  For  Apocryphal  agreements  in  'The  Barrenness  of  Anna,'  'Mary  in  the  Temple, 
'  Mary's  Betrothment,'  etc.,  see  Hone. 


136  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Whether  this  source  is  an  earlier  play,  or  whether  each  is  independ- 
ently based  upon  Luke,  Chap.  I,  will  be  the  theme  of  a  later  chapter.1 
VI.  The  cycle  of  Newcastle  on-T}rne  has  disappeared,  except  the 
play  of  Noah's  Ark.  This  play  has  been  grievously  modernized,  to 
the  destruction  of  the  stanzaic  structure.  Here  and  there  a  sem- 
blance of  the  original  stanza  can  yet  be  detected  and  the  stanza 
restored,  but  such  instances  are  rare. 

Noah  Respond.it. 

Even  wo  worth  thou  fouled  sin, 

For  all  too  dear  thou  must  be  bought, 

God  for  thanks  he  made  mankind, 

Or  with  his  hands  that  he  them  wrought: 

Therefore  or  ever  you  blind, 

You  mind  your  wife  and  turn  your  thought, 

For  of  my  work  I  will  begin, 

So  well  were  me  all  forth  brought. 

Y  IX,  stanza  12,  contains  the  rime  series — 'synne,'  'blynne,' 
'  mankynne,'  '  wynne,'  which  enables  us  to  restore  the  above  rimes, 
'  sin '  =  '  synne,'  '  mankind '  =  '  mankynne,'  '  blind '  =  '  blynne,'  and 
thus  to  restore  the  sense  of  the  fifth  line.  This  is  then  a  double 
quatrain  stanza,  or  the  pedes  of  a  Northern  septenar  stanza,  possibly 
similar  to  Y  IX. 

Other  changes  also  are  necessary.  An  improved  reading  for  the 
first  line  would  be — 

Ever  wo  worth  the  fouled  synne. 

In  the  words,  '  for  thanks,'  one  fails  to  detect  the  verb  'vor>ence,'a 
'  forthinke,'3  meaning  'repents/ 

Other  portions  of  the  play  were,  without  much  doubt,  written  in 
another  stanza.  This,  then,  is  a  play  with  two  or  more  stanza  forms  ; 
probably  a  pieced  play  like  some  of  those  in  W.  The  introduction 
of  Deabolus  is  foreign  to  other  known  English  plays,  apparently, 
and  indicates  French  influence,  as  does  the  stationary  play-field  of 
Newcastle.  More  than  this  Ave  cannot  determine  from  the  scanty 
and  corrupt  remains  of  the  Newcastle  cycle. 

From  this  cursory  view  of  the  cycles,  we  return  now  to  the  York 
cycle,  to  question  it  in  regard  to  the  interdependence  of  its  different 
plays. 

i  See  Chap.  XXIV.  a  Stratmann.  s  Halliwell. 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays.  137 

XXI. 
THE    PARENT   CYCLE   OF   THE   YORK   MYSTERY   PLAYS. 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  existing  Fork  cycle 
is  a  compilation,  containing  plays  of  very  different  styles  and  stan- 
zaic  structure.  In  the  earlier  discussion  of  the  life  history  of  the 
Northern  septenar  stanza,  it  lie. ■aim-  evident  that  this  stanza  passed 
through  well-defined  phases,  of  which  one  phase  at  a  time  dominated 
the  writers  of  its  day.  Therefore,  since  the  different  life  stages  of 
this  stanza  are  found  in  the  present  York  cycle,  it  becomes  possible 
to  date  the  plays  relatively  to  each  other  by  their  stanzaic  structure. 

The  earliest  form  of  the  stanza  found  in  the  York  plays — a  struc- 
ture showing  already  marked  evidence  of  deterioration — is  the  stanza 
of  plays  II,  X,  XI,  XXIII,  XXI V,  XXVII,  XXXV,  XXXVII, 
XLIV,  and  portions  of  XII,  XV,  XVII.  This  stanza  is  also  found 
in  a  part  of  "Woodkirk  play  XX,  which  has  no  correspondent  in 
York.  These  plays  are  therefore  older  than  York  plays  XXVIII, 
XXIX,  XXX,  XXXI,  XXXII,  which  exhibit  the  stanza  at  a  much 
later  stage  of  its  development. 

The  questions  that  immediately  confront  us  are  two :  first,  do 
these  plays  represent  an  earliest  cycle,  which  has  been  extended  at 
later  and  different  periods  by  additions  from  one  or  more  sources? 
and,  secondly,  are  these  plays  the  work  of  one  author?  These 
questions  merit  a  careful  investigation. 

As  regards  the  first  question,  it  can  be  affirmed — 

1.  That  these  plays  are  certainly  older  than  the  remainder  of  the 
York  plays,  with  the  possible  exception  of  a  few  plays  of,  as  it 
would  seem,  church  origin. 

2.  That  they  are  the  only  plays  of  the  York  cycle,  having  a 
common  stanza,  that  could  possibty  form  a  cycle. 

3.  That  they  are  older  than  the  Woodkirk,  true  Coventry,  and 
so-called  Coventry  cycles. 

The  first  point  is  proved  by  the  stanzaic  structure,  which  excludes 
all  competitors,  except  for  those  stanzas  directly  dependent  upon 
church  or  French  influence.1  The  second  position  rests  upon  the  fact 
that  these  plays  include  the  Creation,  Abraham  and  Isaac,  the  Christ- 
mas Cycle,  the  Crucifixion,  and  the  Harrowing  of  Hell,  the  leading 
plays  of  every  possible  extended  cycle.  The  third  point  requires 
further  demonstration. 


i  See  point  9,  p.  127. 

Trans.  Conn.  Acad.,  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892. 

10 


138  Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 

These  plays  are  older  than  the  Woodkirk  and  true  Coventry 
cycles,  because  both  W  and  Co  borrowed  from  the  York,  though 
not  from  the  extant  text  of  the  York.  Since  the  text  is  a  variant  of 
the  present  York,  it  is  probable  that  the  borrowing  was  prior  to  the 
registration  of  the  play.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  actors' 
copies  were  collated  with  the  registered  play  after  the  authoritative 
copy  was  in  existence. 

The  relationship  of  author's  MS.,  registered  play,  and  actor's  copy 
must  be  finally  made  out  for  each  play,  even — where  there  has  been 
patchwork — for  each  scene  separately.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  pur- 
pose here  to  state  that,  in  many  places,  a  text  better  than  the  present 
York  can  be  established  by  the  readings  of  the  other  cycles  ;  there- 
fore, in  those  plays  at  least,  the  borrowing  was  earlier  than  the  regis- 
tration. 

Moreover,  in  plays  of  the  early  septenar  stanza,  W  and  Co  bor- 
rowed from  Y,  not  Y  and  these  from  a  common  original.  The 
proof  of  this  lies — 

1.  In  the  stanza,  which  does  not  occur  without  variation  outside 
of  the  parent  cycle. 

2.  In  the  evidence  of  damage  suffered  by  the  stanza  at  the  hands 
of  redactors,  which  is  serious  in  W  and  Co,  and  but  slight  in  Y. 

3.  In  the  fact  that  W  pieces  plays  of  Y  with  stanzas  from  other 
plays  ;  see  Y  XXXVII. 

As  regards  the  question  of  authorship,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
the  parent  York  cycle  was  the  work  of  one  author.  This  opinion 
rests  upon  characteristics  of  phraseology,  riming  words,  style  of  treat- 
ment, uniformity  of  verse  movement,  caesura,  and  general  rhythm  in 
stanzas — matters  that  must  be  elucidated  in  extenso. 

We  conclude,  then,— 

1.  That  there  was  a  parent  cycle  of  plays  at  York. 

2.  That  W  and  the  true  Co  borrowed  certain  plays  from  this 
cycle. 

3.  That  this  cycle  was  the  work  of  one  author. 

What,  then,  were  the  plays  that  formed  this  earliest  cycle  ?  My 
hypotheses  are  that  it  contained — 

1.  All  the  plays  of  the  characteristic  stanza. 

2.  Y  VIII  and  IX  as  well. 

3.  Also  W,  'Conspiracio'  from  "Cayphas"  to  "Tunc  dicet 
Sanctus  Johannes." 

The  evidence  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  Y  VIII  and  Y  IX  to 
the  cycle  will  be  considered  first. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  139 

In  Y  IX  the  stanza  departs  from  the  standard  in  the  Cauda.  The 
typical  cauda  is  a  quatrain  ;  the  cauda  of  IX  is  a  sestet,  riming 
c  d  c  c  c  d.  To  my  mind  this  riming  series  shows  Southern  influ- 
ence. However,  in  every  other  particular, — alliteration,  verse  move- 
ment, caesura,  the  agreement  with  X  and  XI  is  very  marked.  How 
much  this  may  mean  Ave  see  by  comparing  the  stanza  schemes  of  X, 
stanza  I ;'  IX,  stanza  1  ;2  and  XXVI,  stanza  4.s 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  this  Y  XXVI  is  the  play  to  which  W 
'  Conspiracio'  answers,  and,  as  we  hope  to  prove  later,  supplanted  the 
earlier  play  of  the  York  cycle,  as  being  more  in  accord  with  the 
later  taste. 

The  differences  betweeu  these  stanzas  of  IX  and  XXVI  are  more 
important  than  is  the  single  circumstance  of  agreement  in  rime. 
They  are  the  differences  in  alliteration  and  verse-movement  that 
mark  the  degeneration  of  the  stanza.  XXVI  is  later  than  IX,  and 
has  its  connections  with  XXX,  XXXI,  and  the  remainder  of  a  small 
group  of  plays,  of  which  the  first  supplanted  the  old  '  Conspiracy,' 
and  the  rest  presented  the  trials  and  various  incidents  prior  to 
'  Christ  led  up  to  Calvary.'  This  whole  group,  through  style,  verse- 
movement,  and  disorganization  of  stanza,  reveals  interesting  affilia- 
tions with  the  so-called  Co,  and  with  certain  plays  of  "W.4 

In  Y  VIII  the  stanza  is  equivalent  to  the  pedes  of  IX.     It  would 
be  nothing  surprising  if  an  author  who  was  experimenting  with  the 
cauda  of  his  favorite  stanza  should  try  the  experiment  of  dropping^ 
it  altogether.     The  York  cycle,  however,  contains  another  play  irfifl 
this  double  quatrain  measure,  play  XXXIX,  for  the  second  stanza 
of  which  the  followino-  scheme  can  be  formed — 


This  scheme  is  very  different  from  that  of  XXVI.  The  verse- 
movement  and  alliteration  agree  well  with  those  of  VIII  and  IX, 
but  the  language  seems  of  a  later  date. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  this  was  a  favorite  stanza  for  the  four- 
accent  verse  that  sprang  from  the  iambic  tetrameter  of  the  Latin, 


i  See  p.  116.  »  See  p.  118.  » See  p.  118.  4  See  p.  127. 


OP  THB     l^ 


140  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

and  was  widely  cultivated  in  Southern  England  through  French  influ- 
ence. In  this  verse  alliteration  was  never  structural,  but,  especially 
on  the  borders  of  the  Northern  district,  simulated  structural  allitera- 
tion so  closely  at  times,  that  other  tests  must  be  relied  upon  to  detect 
the  affiliations  of  the  verse.  In  this  case  the  tests  will  be  those  that 
would  reveal  a  common  authorship. 

In  the  poems  of  this  stanza  the  riming  series  and  the  riming  words 
are  important  indications  of  authorship.  In  each  typical  stanza  there 
must  be  four  rimes,  of  which  two  must  contain  a  series  of  four  words 
each.  Redactors  may  distort  the  stanza  and  modernize,  or  translate 
into  another  dialect,  the  riming  words  ;  still,  so  much  of  the  original 
riming  system  will  remain  intact  that  restoration  is  commonly  a 
comparatively  simple  task. 

Furthermore,  the  riming  series  were  few,  and  the  number  of  words 
of  one  rime  was  limited.  The  poets  were  so  closely  bound  by  the 
fetters  of  their  stanza  that  a  new  riming  series  of  six  words  was  a 
discovery  of  prime  importance,  and  the  changes  were  rung  in  series 
of  four  almost  to  the  limits  of  possible  permutations. 

This  test,  then,  of  a  riming  series  and  of  the  words  that  form  such 
a  series  is  easy  of  application,  and  would  afford  a  ready  solution  of 
the  problem  of  authorship,  were  it  not  for  the  remarkable  uniformity 
in  these  series  as  used  by  different  writers.  Here  lies  a  serious  diffi- 
culty. Certain  riming  series  were  common  to  all  writers  of  English 
for  centuries,  if,  indeed,  they  are  not  now  employed  by  the  authors 
of  hymns.  Such  are  the  rimes  upon  'be,'  'here,'  'will,'  '  noght,' 
'  land,'  etc.  Other  correspondences  were  confined  to  certain  poems 
in  common  with  the  York  cycle ;  thus  the  Northern  Gospel  of 
Nicodemus  shows  such  agreements  with  the  plays  of  the  early 
septenar  stanza  that  one  is  led  to  suspect  the  existence  of  a  school 
of  poetry1  with  headquarters  at  York,  but  with  disciples  throughout 
the  North,  and  continuing  through  several  steps  of  stanzaic  change. 

The  necessity  of  a  division  of  riming  series  into  three  classes 
becomes,  therefore,  apparent.     These  classes  are  formed  of — 

1.  Those  series  that  were  used  by  all  writers  of  Middle  English 
verse  with  masculine  rimes. 

2.  Those  series  that  seem  to  mark  a  common  tradition  among 
certain  poets  working  in  a  somewhat  similar  manner. 

3.  Those  series  that  appear  to  arise  from  the  individual  choice  of 
the  author. 


This  subject  merits  a  special  investigation. 


Charles  Davidson  —  Waglish  Mystery  Plays.  I  1 1 

Our  present  search  is  concerned  with  the  third  division  only, 
although  the  recognition  of  the  other  categories  will  aid  us  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  data  obtained. 

For  these  rime  tests  I  have  selected  Y  X,  as  a  play  undoubtedly 
belonging  to  the  parent  cycle;  Y  IX,  the  one  whose  authorship  is 
in  question  because  of  the  irregular  cauda  ;  Y  VIII,  one  in  a  differ- 
ent stanza  through  loss  of  the  cauda  ;  and  Y  XXXIX,  one  agreeing 
in  every  particular,  so  far  as  it  has  yet  been  examined,  with  VIII. 
As  a  measure  for  the  plays  I  take  Y  XI,  which  is  unquestionably  of 
the  parent  cycle. 

XI  agrees  with  X  and  with  no  other  in  rime  series  upon  '  wiste,' '  fell,'  '  name,"  '  wise,' 
'  fayle,' '  said,'  and  '  kepe.' 

The  identical  rimes  among  these  are — 

kepe,  schepe,  X,  26,  XI,  8. 

same,  hame,  name,  blame,  X,  4. 

same,  hame,  blame,  name,  X,  31. 

wise,  sacryfice,  X,  7  and  X,  19. 
The  included  rimes  are- 
fell,  telle,  X,  17. 

telle,  fell,  emell,  Israel,  XI,  3. 

dwelle,  telle,  XI,  9. 

tell,  Israeli,  dwell,  emell,  XI,  16. 

tell,  Israeli,  hell,  dwelle,  XI,  IS. 

name,  same,  XI,  20. 

name,  blame,  same,  shame,  XT,  15. 

same,  hame,  name,  blame,  X,  4. 

same,  hame,  blame,  name,  X,  31. 

saide,  grathide,  X,  13. 

grathid,  brayde,  saide,  payed,  X,  16. 

saide,  paied,  XI,  30. 
These  rime  series  number  24. 
XI  contains  63  different  varieties  of  rime. 

X  contains  47  different  varieties  of  rime. 
The  rime  series  of  XI  number  134. 

The  rime  series  of  X  number  129. 

The  agreeing  rime  series  constitute  12/134  of  all  in  XI,  and  12/129  of  all  in  X. 
The  riming  words  agreeing  number  14  in  406  lines  of  XI,  and  in  380  lines  of  X,  or  1  in 
27  lines  of  X. 

XI  agrees  with  IX  and  with  no  other  in  rime  series  upon  'before,'  'men,'  'borne,' 
'flitte,'  'mene,'  'greve,'  'encresse,'  and  'marre.' 

Identical  rimes  among  these  are- 
wore,  before,  sore,  (no)  more,  IX,  20. 

before,  wore,  sore,  more,  XI,  23. 

sesse,  encresse.  IX,  17. 

sese,  encrese,  XI,  4. 
Included  rimes  are— 

wene,  mene,  IX,  5. 

mene,  seene,  grene,  wene,  XT,  (». 

greve,  myscheue,  IX,  8, 

mere,  greve,  leve,  myscheue,  XI,  24. 

sesse,  encresse,  IX,  17  and  XI,  4. 

pees,  press,  sees,  encrese,  XI,  2. 

pees,  sesse,  messe,  encresse,  XI,  14. 


142 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


pees,  encresse,  sese,  lese,  XI,  28. 

ferre,  wane,  XI,  28. 

ferre,  marie,  narre,  warre,  IX,  5. 
These  rime  series  number  30. 
XI  contains  63  different  vai-ieties  of  rime. 
IX  contains  52  different  varieties  of  rime. 
The  rime  series  of  XI  number  134. 
The  rime  series  of  IX  number  92. 

The  agreeing  rime  series  constitute  18/134  of  all  in  XI,  and  12/92  of  all  in  IX. 
The  riming  words  agreeing  number  20  in  406  lines  of  XI,  and  in  320  lines  of  IX,  or  1  in 
16  lines  of  IX. 

XI  agrees  with  VIII  and  with  no  other  in  rime  series  upon  'fall'  and  '  newe.' 
Among  these  there  are  no  identical  rimes. 
Included  rimes  are— 

newe,  trewe,  XI,  12. 

trewe,  hewe,  brewe,  newe,  VIII,  3. 

sewe,  newe,  rewe,  trewe,  VIII,  14. 

newe,  trewe,  rewe,  sew,  XI,  33. 
These  rime  series  number  V. 
XT  contains  (53  different  varieties  of  rime. 
VIII  contains  29  different  varieties  of  rime. 
The  rime  series  of  XI  number  134. 
The  rime  series  of  VIII  number  38. 

The  agreeing  rime  series  constitute  4/134  of  all  in  XI  and  3/38  of  all  in  VIII. 
The  riming  words  agreeing  number  7  in  406  lines  of  XI,  and  in  151  lines  of  VIII,  or  1  in 
21  in  VIII. 

XI  agrees  with  XXXIX  and  with  no  other  in  no  rime  series. 
XI  contains  63  different  varieties  of  rime. 
XXXIX  contains  18  different  varieties  of  rime. 
The  rime  series  of  XI  number  134. 
The  rime  series  of  XXXIX  number  40. 

XI  agrees  with  IX  and  X  and  with  no  other  in  20  rime  series. 
XI  agrees  with  VIII,  IX,  and  X  and  with  no  other  in  65  rime  series. 
XI  agrees  with  XXXIX,  IX,  and  X  and  with  no  other  in  30  rime  series. 
VIII  and  IX,  not  XXXIX,  have  11  series  in  common. 

VIII  and  XXXIX,  not  IX,  have  1  series  in  common. 

IX  and  XXXIX,  not  VIII,  have  4  series  in  common. 
VIII,  IX,  and  XXXIX,  have  9  series  in  common. 

The  more  important  of  the  above  results  may  be   tabulated  as 
follows — XI  in  agreement  with — 


Eiming  sounds  _ .  7 

Eiming  series 24 

Fractional  part  of  total 
number  of  rimes  in 
measured  play '   1/10 

Word  agreements...  \  1  in27 

'  lines. 


VIII.    XXXIX 


30 


1/7  1/12 
linl6  lin21 
lines,     lines. 


IX  and 
X. 


VIII,  IX     TX,  X, 
and  X.     XXXIX. 


1/18 


65 


1/4 


30 


1/9 


Charles  Davidson — English  lUfystery  Plays.  143 

Tliis  table  reveals  a  closer  agreement  between  IX  and  XI  than 
between  X  and  XI,  yet  X  and  XI  have  the  same  stanzaic  structure. 
It  establishes  the  connection  of  VIII  with  the  cycle,  since  VIII  ranks 
with  X  in  agreement  with  XI,  and  indeed  ranks  above  X,  when  we 
consider  that  VIII  is  confined  to  four-word  series,  as  it  has  no  cauda, 
and  that  this  author  appears  to  express  his  preferences,  so  far  as 
they  depart  from  the  literary  conventions  of  his  day,  more  often  in 
the  two-word  series  of  the  double  quatrain.  It  sharply  separates 
XXXIX  from  VIII.  That  this  division  is  not  the  result  of  accident 
is  further  demonstrated  by  the  behavior  of  XXXIX  in  combination. 
The  common  rimes  of  VIII,  IX,  and  X  agree  with  XI  in  one  rime  in 
four,  but  the  common  rimes  of  XXXIX,  and  IX  and  X,  agree  with 
XI  in  only  one  rime  in  nine. 

In  accordance  with  these  results,  we  conclude  that  VIII  and  IX 
belong  to  the  cycle,  and  that  XXXIX  does  not.  As  a  confirmatory 
fact,  we  note  that  the  subjects  of  plays  VIII  and  IX  are  interde- 
pendent.   If  one  play  belongs  in  the  cycle,  the  other  must  go  with  it. 

The  third  hypothesis  must  now  be  considered.  Is  W  '  Conspiracio' 
from  "Cayphas"  to  "Tunc  dicet  Sanctus  Johannes"  the  work  of  the 
author  of  the  York  cycle  '? 

This  question  should  admit  of  an  answer  through  the  rime  tests 
employed  in  the  preceding  investigation.  It  is  not  necessary  to  give 
the  steps  in  detail.  The  results  obtained  for  comparison  with  those 
of  the  table  are  8,  31,  1/6,  and  1  in  18  lines,  a  confirmatory  result. 

Let  us  beware,  however,  of  accepting  these  tests  as  absolutely 
conclusive  of  single  authorship.  They  do  seem  to  establish  a  com- 
mon membership  in  a  parent  cycle,  to  separate  the  work  of  one  age 
from  that  of  another,  but  the  distinguishing  of  individual  authorship 
within  a  school  of  literature  is  a  very  different  matter.  The  number 
of  rime  series  known  to  the  Northern  writers  was  limited.  Individ- 
ual prefererces  had  but  little  freedom.  A  similar  test  made  upon 
the  first  four  hundred  lines  of  the  Northern  Evangelium  Nicodemi 
gives  nearly  as  favorable  an  answer  for  single  authorship  ;  yet  it 
seems  almost  certain  that  this  poem  is  by  a  different  author  of  the 
same  school,  probably  of  a  slightly  earlier  date. 

The  poet  of  the  Nicodemus  was  individual  in  his  use  of  riming 
plurals,  'dedes,'  'lawes,'  of  rimes  upon  'now,'  -'stout,'  'house,'  for 
his  fondness  for  certain  series,  'Cayphas,'  'pas,'  'was;'  'Pilate,' 
'  gate.'  The  latter  he  uses  seven  times  out  of  eleven  rimes  on  '  gate,' 
although  the  rime  itself  is  found  in  none  of  the  plays  examined 
excepting  once  in  XI.     In  these  details,  meagre  it  is  true,  and  of 


144  Charles  Davidson — English,  Mystery  Plays. 

little  value  in  the  clays  of  literary  liberty,  but  significant  when  they 
appear  in  work  that  knew  no  innovations,  one  comes  to  feel  that 
here  is  a  personality,  seeking  expression  that  shall  not  be  an  echo. 

Through  a  like  scrutiny  the  literary  workmanship  of  these  plays 
reveals  to  the  mind  of  the  investigator  evidences  of  unity  of  treat- 
ment that,  to  my  mind,  are  worth  far  more  than  rime  tests. 

Again,  these  results  from  rime  tests  must  be  received  with  caution 
for  two  additional  reasons  ;  first,  because  the  text  needs  thorough 
emendation,  and  the  quality  of  the  riming  sounds  must  be  estab- 
lished by  wide  comparisons,  together  with  the  careful  definition  of 
sub-dialects,  before  we  can  form  our  categories  with  confidence  ; 
and,  secondly,  because  the  classification  of  data  has  not  been  ex- 
tended over  a  sufficiently  wide  area  to  admit  of  safe  generalization. 
These  are  tasks  for  many  scholars.  My  purpose  is  accomplished,  if 
my  data  are  sufficiently  accurate  to  establish  the  unity  of  the  parent 
cycle.  To  that  extent  I  believe  them  trustworthy,  and  also  that, 
taken  in  conjunction  with  many  rather  intangible  stylistic  evidences, 
they  form  a  reasonable  basis  for  belief  in  a  single  authorship. 

Let  us  see,  then,  what  plays  constitute  this  parent  cycle.  The  list1 
is  as  follows — 

The  Parent  Cycle. 

Y  IT,  The  Creation,  to  the  fifth  day. 
Y  VIIT,  The  Building  of  the  Ark. 

Y  IX,  Noah  and  his  Wife,  the  Flood  and  its  waning. 

Y  X,  Abraham's  Sacrifice  of  Isaac. 

Y  XI,  The  Departure  of  the  Isra?lites  from  Egypt,  the  Ten 

Plagues,  and  the  Passage  of  the  Red  Sea. 

Y  XII,  The  Annunciation,  The  Prologue. 

Y  XV,  The  Angels  and  the  Shepherds. — The  first  three  stanzas 

and  the  last  four,  omitting  the  comic  episode. 
Y  XVII,  The  Coming  of  the  Three  Kings  to  Herod  ;  the  Adora- 
tion.— The  Salutation,  stanzas  22,  23,  24,  has  perhaps 
been  reworked,  or  may  have  been  written  in  accord- 
ance with  established  custom.  Salutations  of  similar 
style  appear  elsewhere  in  media?val  poetry. 

Y  XX,  Christ  with  the  Doctors  in  the  Temple. 

Y  XXIII,  The  Transfiguration. 

Y  XXIV,  The  Woman  taken  in  Adultery.     The  Raising  of  Laz- 

arus. 

i  Cp.  Hohlfeld  in  Anglia  11,  p.  248. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  145 

W  XX,  Conspiraoio — From  "Cayphas"  to  "Tunc  dicet  Sanctus 
Johannes."     Supplanted  in  York. 

Y  XXVII,  The  Last  Supper. 

Y  XXXV,  Crucifixio  Christ  i. 

Y  XXXVII,  The  Harrowing  of  Hell. 

Y  XLIV,  The  Descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Concerning  the  above  plays  a  few  remarks  are  necessary.  Y  II  is 
a  monologue.  Y  III  is  like  it  in  verse  movement,  rimes,  and  stylistic 
peculiarities,  but  is  written  in  quatrains.  Y  II  cannot  stand  alone. 
There  must  have  been  either  a  continuation,  that  rehearsed  the  crea- 
tion of  Adam  and  Eve,  and  was  superseded  by  Yr  III,  or  Y  III  must 
have  been  in  the  parent  cycle. 

Y  III  has  been  transcribed  repeatedly.  Two  copies  of  it  stand  in 
the  Register.1  It  has  been  greatly  modernized  by  a  scribe  of  South- 
ern proclivities.  'Sail'  occurs  24  times  in  Y  II,  'schall'  not  at  all ; 
'schall'  occurs  19  times  in  Y  III,  'sail'  not  at  all.  'I'  is  found  28 
times  in  Y  II,  'y'  not  at  all;  'I'  is  found  12  times  in  Y  III,  cy' 
occurs  6  times.  The  rimes  agree  sufficiently  well.  Y  II  has  32 
varieties  of  rime;  Y  III,  28  varieties.  The  two  plays  agree  in  15 
rimes. 

If  we  knew  more  of  the  method  of  presentation,  we  might  be  able 
to  judge  better  of  the  relationship  of  these  two  plays.  Y  II  is  a 
monologue.  I  suspect  that  it  was  largely  explanatory  of  a  picture 
pageant  carried  upon  the  pageant  wagon.  Perhaps  the  pictures 
were  successively  exposed  to  view,  as  different  portions  of  the  world 
were  created.  The  parallel  to  the  pageants  of  royal  entry  with  one 
speaker,  who  explained  the  tableau,  is  sufficient. 

In  Y  III,  it  would  seem  that  the  tableau  stood  fully  formed.  The 
speaker  points  to  each  part  as  he  says — 

In  heuen  ar  aungels  faire  and  bright, 
Sternes  and  planetis  ber  courses  to  goo, 
be  mone  semes  vnto  be  nyghte, 
The  sonne  to  lighte  be  day  also. 

In  erthe  is  trees,  and  gresse  to  springe, 
Beestes  and  foules,  bothe  grete  and  smale, 
Fisshys  in  node,  all  other  thynge, 
Thrytfe  and  haue  my  blissynge  alle. 

But  the  words  of  Adam  and  Eve  appear  to  me  conventional,  as 
bearing  marked  traces  of  the  church  play.  Y  III  may  be  an  old 
church  play  that  has  supplanted  the  original  play  of  the  cycle. 

i  York  Plays,  p.  14. 


146  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

There  survives  a  curious  proof  that  there  was  a  Northern  play  on 
this  theme,  and  in  the  characteristic  stanza.  On  the  margin  of  the 
MS.  are  written,  as  following  line  44,  these  lines1 — 

And  leyd  your  lyves  in  good  degre, 
Adam  here  make  I  the 
a  man  of  mykyll  myght. 
Thys  same  shall  thy  subget  be 
And  Eve  her  name  shall  hight. 

These  lines  form  the  cauda  of  a  stanza,  together  with  the  last  verse 
of  the  preceding  pedes.  They  are  in  an  Elizabethan  hand,  and  must 
be  a  quotation  from  some  play  then  extant.  Can  it  have  been  the 
Beverly  play  ?  In  any  case  it  establishes  the  existence  of  such  a 
play,  and  reinforces  the  hypothesis  that  the  play  of  the  parent  cycle 
had  been  supplanted  by  a  church  play  of  an  early  type.  The  problem 
must  be  left  for  the  present  unsolved. 

Y  XI  closes  with  a  song,  W  adds  a  tribute  of  praise. 

In  Y  XII,  the  prologue  only  belongs  to  the  work  of  our  author. 
Whether  the  remainder  of  his  play  has  given  place  to  a  later  play, 
or  whether  he  took  a  popular  play,  wrote  a  prologue  for  it,  and  put 
it  into  his  cycle,  is  a  question  to  be  determined  with  the  examination 
of  all  the  plays  that  are  paraphrases  of  Luke  I.  This  will  be  the 
theme  of  a  later  chapter. 

The  author  of  this  cycle  did  not  utilize  the  comic  episodes.  As 
the  plays  departed  further  from  the  church  play,  the  dramatic  ele- 
ment became  more  prominent,  and  a  literary  convention  called  for 
some  humorous  remarks  about  the  angels'  singing.  This  episode 
was  then  inserted,  probably  with  little  excision. 

Y  XX  will  be  given  a  special  examination  in  connection  with  the 
plays  derived  from  it. 

Y  XXIV  has  lost  a  leaf  at  a  very  important  action.  Jesus  has 
evidently  written  on  the  ground  the  sins  of  the  accusers,  wherein 
the  play  agrees  with  the  theological  notions  of  the  day.* 

W  XX  begins  with  the  introduction  of  Pilate,  with  verse  move- 
ment after  the  later  fashion.  The  differences  between  the  earlier 
and  later  styles  are  well  exemplified  in  the  stanzas  assigned  to  Pilate 
and  Caiaphas  at  the  beginning  of  the  play.  The  later  part  of  this 
play  is  in  a  different  style,  and  covers  the  incidents  of  the  Last 
Supper,  as  does  Y  XXVII.  The  speech  of  Jesus  is  a  paraphrase  of 
portions  of  the  Gospel  of  John.  This  will  be  considered  in  another 
chapter. 

i  York  Plays,  p.  15.  «  See  the  Coventry  Mysteries,  p.  320. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  147 

Whether  a  cycle  would  close  with  the  Descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  to  my  mind  somewhat  doubtful.  The  Italian  short  cycle  already 
cited1  exhibits  a  play  of  this  character,  with  the  plays  of  Burial  and 
Resurrection  as  introductory.  It  is  possible  that  it  was  considered 
on  theological  grounds  a  fitting  close,  though  mosl  cycles  passed 
on  to  the  Judgment  Day.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  nothing 
surprising,  if  the  Mercers  had  discarded  their  old  play  for  a  play  of 
the  later  fashion.  The  York  play,  L  The  Judgment  Day,'  is  a  late 
play,  and  will  be  examined  in  another  chapter. 

These  sixteen  plays,  then,  can  be  segregated  as  an  ancient  cycle, 
which  stood  as  prototype  for  the  craft  cycles  of  Woodkirk  and 
Coventry,  and,  probably,  of  Beverly.  There  are  reasons,  however, 
for  believing  that  the  demand  for  expansion  came  soon,  and  that 
certain  additions  had  already  been  made  when  the  Woodkirk  com- 
piler looked  to  York  for  a  part  of  his  material. 

We  will  next  consider  the  status  of  the  plays  of  the  parent  cycle 
in  the  other  cycles,  and  then  examine  into  the  evidences  for  the 
expansion  of  this  cycle  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Woodkirk 


XXII. 
THE   PARENT  CYCLE   IN   THE  WOODKIRK  PLAYS. 

The  following  plays  of  the  parent  cycle  are  found,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  in  the  Woodkirk  plays.  Y  XI  =  W  <  Pharao  ; '  Y  XYII  =  W 
'  Oblacio  Magorum,'  one  stanza  only  ;  Y  XX  =  W  '  Pagina  Docto- 
rum  ;'  Y  XXXYII  =  W  'Extractio  Animarum.' 

The  relation  of  W  'Pharao'  to  Y  XI  can  be  best  shown  by  con- 
trasting corresponding  verses  that  shall  be  as  nearly  consecutive  as 
possible.  I  have  chosen  the  first  twenty-three  lines  of  the  York  play; 
the  verse  that  seems  to  me  the  nearest  to  the  original  is  given  as  the 
second  in  each  case,  and  the  reason  for  my  decision  is  suggested  by 
the  word  following.  These  comparisons  can  hardly  be  classed  as 
text  emendations  —  any  authoritative  settlement  of  the  questions 
arising  would  lead  me  too  far  afield — but  they  will  serve  to  illustrate 
the  relative  purity  of  the  texts. 

O  pees,  I  bidde  bat  noman  passe,  V,  1. 

Peas,  of  payn  that  no  man  pas,  W.    Alliteration. 

And  take  good  hede  of  hym  that  has,  W. 

And  takes  gud  heede  to  hym  hat  hasse,  Y,  3.    Cp.  XXXVII,  1.  37. 

i  See  p.  77. 


148  Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays. 

Youre  liff  all  haly  in  his  hande,  T,  4. 

Your  helthe  alle  holy  in  hys  hande,i  W.    Alliteration. 

I  am  hys  hayre  as  age  wylle  has,  W. 

I  am  hys  hayre  as  elde  will  asse,  Y,  7.    Elde,  asse. 

I  wold  my  myghte  were  knowne,  W. 

I  will  my  myght  be  knawen,  Y,  11.    Tense. 

And  of  youre  wordes  looke  that  ye  seasse,  W. 

And  of  youre  sawes  I  rede  you  sees,  Y,  17.    Alliteration. 

And  at  my  liste  lose  liff  and  lyre,  Y,  20. 

And  to  my  list  bowe  lyfe  and  lyre,  W.    Unstressed  alliteration. 

My  Lord,  if  any  here  were,  W. 

My  lorde,  yf  any  were,  Y,  21.    Verse  movement. 

If  we  myghte  com  thaym  nere,  W. 

And  we  wist  whilke  thay  were,  Y,  23.    Alliteration. 

With  these  comparisons  we  place  the  following  additions  and 
omissions.     W  adds — 

After  stanza  1.    Full  low  he  shalle  be  thrawne 
That  harkyns  not  my  sawe, 
Hanged  hy  and  drawne, 
Therfor  no  boste  ye  blawe. 
After  stanza  9.    Do  of  thy  shoyes  in  fere, 

Wyth  mowth  as  I  the  melle, 
The  place  thou  standes  in  there 
Forsoth,  is  halowd  welle. 
After  stanza  10.    Bot  I  wylle  not  so  do. 

In  me  if  thay  wylle  trast 
Bondage  to  brynge  thaym  fro. 
Therfor  thou  go  in  hast. 
In  stanza  22.    In  no  mans  time  that  ever  was  borne. 

Pharao.    Telle  on,  belyfe,  and  make  an  end. 
In  stanza  28.    Yit  were  it  better  that  thai  yede. 
W  omits— 
In  stanza  22.    Sir  kyng,  we  banne  Jjat  we  wer  borne, 

Oure  blisse  is  all  with  bales  blende. 
In  stanza  25.    Als  wele  on  myddyng  als  on  more. 
In  stanza  28.    Lorde,  war  they  wente  J>an  walde  it  sese, 
So  shuld  we  save  vs  and  our  seede. 
also,    Late  hym  do  fourth !  J?e  devill  hym  spede  ! 

Y  stanza  31  is  paralleled  by  W.  The  stanza  illustrates  the  methods 
by  which  W  often  reduces  a  4-stress  verse  to  a  3-stress  line.  The 
rime  series,  '  pay,'  '  betray,'  '  garray,'  '  slay,'  makes  it  probable  that 
this  stanza  is  an  excerpt  from  some  other  play.2 

Y,  stanza  31.    For  at  oure  will  now  sail  we  wende, 
In  lande  of  lykyng  for  to  lende. 
i.  puer.— Kyng  Pharo,  that  felowns  fende, 

Will  haue  grete  care  fro  this  be  kende. 
Than  will  he  schappe  hym  vs  to  shende, 
And  sone  his  Ooste  aftir  vs  sende. 


i  But  'helthe'  is  a  favorite  word,  cp.  Y  XXXVII.    W  uses  'helth'  for  'heele,'  lines 
38, 106.  2  See  p.  143. 


C ha  vies  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  149 

Moyscs.—Beis  noght  afcrde,  n<xl  is  youre  frende, 
Fro  alle  oure  fooes  he  will  vs  fende. 
barfore  comes  furthe  with  me, 
Haves  done,  and  drede  you  noght. 
ii.  puer.— My  lorde,  loved  motl  bou  bee, 
bat  bus  fro  bale  lias  brought. 
W.— Com  furthe,  now  salle  ye  weynd 
To  land  of  lykyng  you  to  pay. 
Pi-imus  Puer.— Bot  kyng  Pharao,  that  fals  feynd, 
He  will  us  eft  betray ; 
Fulle  soyn  he  wille  shape  us  to  sheynd, 
And  after  us  send  his  garray. 
Moyses.— Be  not  abast,  God  is  our  freynd, 
And  alle  oure  foes  wille  slay ; 
Therfor  com  on  with  me, 
Have  done  and  drede  yon  noght. 
Secundus  Puer.— That  Lord  blyst  might  he  be. 

That  us  from  baylle  has  broght. 

Certain  expressions  and  substitutions  of  words  for  differences  in 
dialects  are  worthy  a  passing  notice.  A  favorite  oath  in  W — '  the 
ragyd  dwylle,'  1.  251,  325,  403. 

'  in  mynde '  for  '  haue  I  mende,'  W,  121.    Misunderstood. 

'way '  for  ' wothis,'  W.  138.    wothis  =  harm.    Misunderstood. 

'  lepre '  for  '  serpent,'  W,  154.    Criticism  of  his  text. 

'socoure'  for  'belde,'  W,  180.    Dialectal  change. 

'  Brethere '  for  '  Beeths '  (?),  W,  197. 

'  wyle '  for  '  wynne,'  W,  220. 

'loselle '  for  '  lurdayne,'  W,  229. 

'  wyth '  for  '  Hopp,'  W,  245.    Dialectal  change. 

'  trow '  for  '  hopp,'  W,  275  (?).' 

'lang'  for  'lande,'  W,  282. 

'bond'  for  'garre  feste,'  W,  308.    Dialectal  change. 

1  myst '  for  '  myrke,'  W,  344.    Dialectal  change. 

1  fals '  for  l  felowns,'  W.  303  (?). 

These  changes  for  dialectal  reasons  probably  mark  not  alone  a 
difference  of  vocabulary  in  the  two  districts,  but  also  a  change  of 
obsolescent  words  for  those  of  accepted  currency.  This  is  another 
proof  that  the  compilation  of  the  Woodkirk  cycle  is  considerably 
later  than  the  date  of  the  parent  c}^cle  of  York. 

W  'Oblacio  Magorum,'  to  which  Y  XVII  corresponds,  shows  but 
slight  indebtedness  to  the  York  play.  The  greater  portion  of  the 
play  is  in  the  stanze  a  a  a  b  a  b.  This  was  a  favorite  stanza  for 
church  poetry.  The  play  was  universally  given  in  connection  with 
the  Christmas  service.  It  is  probable  that  the  compiler  incorporated 
a  church  play  into  his  cycle.  One  of  two  alternatives  is  certain, 
either  he  had  the  York  play  before  him,  or  at  a  later  date  the  York 
introduction  of  the  angel  displaced  the  original  message. 

From  the  compiler's  known  method  of  work,  I  judge  that  he  com- 
pared the  church  play  with  the  York. 


150  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

The  'Nuncius'  enters  with  the  York  introduction,  "Mi  lorde  ser 
Herode."  Mary  salutes  the  Magi  with  the  same  words  as  in  York, 
"Sir  kynges."  These  agreements,  however,  do  not  necessarily  argue 
a  borrowing  from  York.  They  may  be  conventional  entrances 
widely  adopted  in  church  plays.1  Many  other  characteristics  agree 
in  general  treatment,  as  might  be  expected  with  common  clerical 
traditions  of  more  than  a  century's  acceptance. 

In  some  points,  however,  these  plays  follow  different  traditions. 
We  know,  for  example,  from  the  Latin  plays  extant,  that  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Doctors  with  their  books2  was  common,'  and  that 
sometimes  the  kings  were  summoned2  by  a  messenger,  sometimes 
appeared  unannounced.  In  these  particulars  W  and  Y  follow  differ- 
ent models.  This  would  seem  to  argue  that  the  play  in  question  was 
used  in  some  church  not  in  close  affiliation  with  York,  possibly  in  the 
Midland  district. 

The  direct  appropriation  of  material  from  the  York  play  is  con- 
fined to  one  stanza,  stanza  27  of  the  York  play.4  This  is  taken  with- 
out change  other  than  a  re-arrangement  of  the  cauda  by  the  transpo. 
sition  of  a  verse.  The  original  rime  a  b  a  b  becomes  abba  in  the 
Woodkirk  play. 

Y  XX  =  W  '  Pagina  Doctorum,'  true  Co  'The  Weavers'  Pageant, 
Ch  'The  Purification,' 'so-called  Co  'Christ  Disputing  in  the  Tem- 
ple.' The  relationships  here  are  so  significant,  and  the  results  flow- 
ing froir  them  so  important,  that  a  separate  chapter  will  be  given  to 
this  plaj . 

Y  XXXVII  was  made  the  basis  for  W  'Extractio  Animarum,'  and 
some  unknown  play  was  used  to  supplement  it.  This  play,  therefore, 
illustrates  the  reverse  of  the  method  pursued  in  'Oblacio  Magorum,' 
but  agrees  with  '  Pharao.' 

The  first  eight  verses  of  Y,  twelve  of  W,  are  different.  In  the  W 
verses  I  seem  to  detect  a  lyric,  carol-like  quality,  such  as  seems  pres- 
ent in  portions  of  W  'Conspiracio  et  Captio.' 

W  adds  the  following  passages.  Before  stanza  5  Isaias  speaks 
eight  verses — 

Isaias.    Adam,  thrugh  thy  syn 

Here  were  we  put  to  dwelle 
This  wykyd  place  within, 
The  name  of  it  is  helle ; 
Here  paynes  shaile  never  blyn 
That  wykyd  ar  and  felle, 
Loue  that  lord  withe  wyn 
His  lyfe  for  vs  wold  selle. 

i  See  p.  134. 

2  So  in  the  play  of  the  twelfth  century  at  Nevers,  Romania,  vol.  4,  p.  4.  Also  cp. 
Freising  and  Orleans  plays,  p.  83.  »  Not  so  in  Jubinal,  Mysteres  inedits,  vol.  2,  p.  95. 

*  This  was  discovered  by  Herttrich,  p.  4. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays,  151 

Before  stanza  9.    Rybald.    Sen  fyrst  that  helle  was  mayde, 
And  I  was  put  therein 
Siche  sorow  never  ere  I  had, 
Nor  hard  I  siche  a  dj  n  : 
My  hart  begynnys  to  brade. 
My  wytt  waxys  thyn, 
I  drede  we  can  not  be  glad, 
Thise  saules  mon  fro  us  twyn. 

With  considerable  re-arrangement  of  parts,  after  the  words,  "At- 
tolite,"  etc.,  the  line,  "  Out,  harro,  out  !  what  deville  is  he."  This 
confusion  arises  from  the  rejection  of  the  translation  accompanying 
the  Latin  lines. 

After  line  140.    If  that  brodelle  com  ne 

With  vn  ay  won  he  shalle. 
After  line  126.    David  says—  Nay,  withe  hy m  may  ye  not  f  yght. 
For  he  is  kyng  and  conqueroure. 
in  the  place  of—    I  lered  leuand  with-outen  lees, 
He  is  a  kyng-  of  vertues  clere. 
After  line  130.    Of  hym  commys  alle  this  light 
That  shynys  in  this  bowre. 

After  line  136,  eight  lines  are  inserted,  the  last  eight  of  stanza  12 
having  heen  used  earlier. 

How  sir  Sathanas,  com  nar 

And  hark  this  cursid  rowte ! 
Sathanas.    The  deville  you  all  to-har! 

What  ales  the  so  to  showte  ? 

And  me,  if  I  com  nar 

Thy  brayn  bot  I  bryst  owte. 
Belzabub.    Thou  must  com  help  to  spar, 

We  are  beseged  abowte. 

A  transposition  of  Jesus's  speech  takes  place,  and  the  discarding 
of  the  Latin,  while  the  translation  is  retained — Y  gives  both  —  is 
made  the  excuse  for  the  introduction  of  two  additional  lines. 

And  let  my  folk  f urthe  gone 


Wheder  ye  wille  or  none. 
Before  stanza  17.    Rybald.     What  art  thou  that  spekys  so  ? 
Jesus.    A  king  of  blys  that  hight  Jesus. 
Rybald.    Tee,  hens  fast  I  red  thou  go, 
And  melle  the  not  with  vs. 
Belzabub.    Oure  yates  I  trow  wille  last, 
Thay  ar  so  strong  I  weyn, 
Bot  if  oure  barres  brast 
For  the  thay  shalle  not  twyn. 
Before  line  198,  in  place  of— Telle  lucifer  alle  is  unlokynne. 

Belsabub  exclaims  — Harro  !  oure  yates  begyn  to  crak, 
In  sonder,  I  trow,  they  go, 
And  helle,  I  trow  will  alle-to-shak : 
Alas,  what  I  am  wo  ! 


The  last  two  additions  improve  the  dramatic  quality  of  the  action. 


152  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Before  line  201,  Satan  exclaims, 

Yee,  hangyd  he  thou  on  a  cruke. 
Before  stanza  26,  Sathanas.    Wbi,  and  wille  thou  take  theym  alle  me  fro? 

Then  thynk  me  thou  art  vnkynde ; 

Nay  I  pray  the  do  not  so, 

Vmthynke  the  better  in  thy  mynde. 

Or  els  let  me  with  the  go, 

I  pray  the  leyfe  me  not  behynde. 
Jesus.    Nay  tratur,  thou  shalle  won  in  wo, 

And  tille  a  stake  I  shalle  the  bynde. 

This  serves  for  the  expansion  of  a  favorite  motive.  Before  line 
349,  a  substitution  of  four  verses  by  Jesus  for  two  by  Satan. 

Satan.    Alias !  for  dole,  and  care, 

I  synke  in  to  helle  pitte. 
Jesus.    Com  now  furthe  my  childer  alle, 

T  forgyf  you  youre  mys ; 

Withe  me  now  go  ye  shalle 

To  joy  and  endles  blys. 

These  excerpts  are  evidently  full  double  quatrain  stanzas  in  four 
cases,  viz:  before  stanzas  5,  9,  and  26,  and  in  stanza  12.  Before 
stanza  17  are  two  half  stanzas,  and  single  half-stanzas  occur  before 
lines  198  and  349.  I' think  it  safe  to  conclude  that  the  play  was 
written  in  double  quatrain  stanzas. 

Whether  these  stanzas  were  composed  of  4-stress  verses  is  a  more 
difficult  question.  These  excerpts  are  prevailingly  3-stressed,  but  our 
redactor  often  reduces  4-stress  lines  to  3-stress  by  dropping  adverbs, 
connectives,  and  unimportant  words  ;  thus  in  stanza  25,  lines  2,  7, 
and  8,  and  in  a  notable  way  lines  19S-200. 

I  do  not  think  that  structural  alliteration  was  present,  though  this 
author  sometimes  effaced  it  beyond  recognition.  I  conclude  from 
the  above  considerations  that  the  play  was  not  a  Northern  play. 

The  redactor  followed  his  own  judgment  also  in  the  matter  of  ex- 
cision. It  is  not  necessary  to  quote  the  lines  of  the  York  play  that 
he  dropped.  They  are,  inclusive,  lines  15-18,  stanza  3  entire,  lines 
51-2,  55,  58,  60,  122,  124,  127-8,  181,  183,  339-40,  343-4,  347-8. 

In  some  few  particulars  the  W  text  is  more  accurate  than  the  Y  ; 
Y,  line  370 — 

Ofte  tymes  tolde  vntill  vs, 

is  assigned  with  the  remainder  of  stanza  31  to  'John  Baptista.'  In 
his  mouth  it  lacks  point,  as  he  is  a  new-comer  to  hell.  W  gives  the 
last  four  lines  of  the  stanza,  including  this  line,  to  Moses,  which 
makes  the  line  in  character.  Y,  line  113,  gives  A  for  the  proper  name 
which  W  gives  as  Anaballe.  Y,  line  135,  reads  by  blunder  of  the 
scribe  'lady'  where  W  writes  correctly  'lad.'     The  aid  that  W  can 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays.  153 

afford  toward  a  restoration  of  the  text  is,  however,  much  less  in  this 
play  than  in  Y  XI. 

There  arc  evidences  that  the  author  of  W  had  a  Blightly  illegible 
copy  of  Y.  Such  mistakes  as  '  fraude '  for  '  f  rewte,' line  10;  'night' 
for  '  light,' line  85';  'bright'  for  'sight,'  line  90;  'shalle  the,  sow' 
for  'telle  the  nowe,'  line  218,  point  to  a  difficulty  of  decipherment. 

Dialectal  changes  similar  to  those  made  in  Y  XI1  occur. 

'boght'  for  'getyn,'  1.  11.  '  tokyn  '  for  '  signe,'  1.  19,  41. 

'shedyng'  for  'bying,'  1.  12.  ' myrth '  for  'grace,'  1.  20. 

'wille'  for  'schall,'  1.  13,  22.  'know'  for  'schewe,'  1.  22. 

'  helth  '  for  '  heele,'  1.  38,  106.  '  can  '  for  '  gune,'  1.  47,  286. 

'darknes'  for  '  mirke,'  1.  53.  'water'  for  'floode,'  1.  76. 

'  shewid'  for  '  mustered,'  1.  86.  '  thurt '  for  '  neyd,'  1.  242. 

'  ment '  for  '  preched,'  1.  291.  '  wille  '  for  '  liste,'  1.  313. 

'trew'  for  '  soth,'  1.  327.  k  sete'  for  '  selle,'  1.  342. 

'In  blys  to  dwelle'  for  '  wonne  in  mirthe,'  1.  228. 

'It  shalbe  lang'  for  'all  schall  nogt  gang,'  1.  303. 

'  Rebald,'  1.  99,  is  understood  as  a  proper  name,  and,  as  'Rybald,'  is 
assigned  to  one  of  the  devils.  '  Glory '  for  '  gilery,'  1.  160.  Now 
'gilery'  means  '  deceit  ;'  consequently,  this  guess  was  rather  wild, 
'like'  for  'obitte,'  1.  269.  This  attempt  to  Anglicize  the  Latin 
'obit'  was  not  appreciated.  The  indebtedness  of  W  to  the  York 
cycle  is  not  confined  to  these  plays  of  the  parent  cycle.  We  shall 
return  again  to  the  discussion  in  a  later  chapter. 


XXIII. 

THE  WOODKIRK   PLAY,   '  CONSPIRACIO   ET   CAPTIO.' 

This  play,  which  has  preserved  a  fragment  of  the  parent  cycle, 
lost  to  the  York  cycle,  is  a  pieced  play,  containing,  within  the  com- 
pass of  a  single  play,  work  of  the  earliest  and  of  the  latest  period, 
as  well  as  something  by  that  author  whose  plays  mark  the  beginnings 
of  English  comedy.  It  is  a  canto,  containing  in  its  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-five  verses  specimens  of  almost  every  age  and  style  of 
mystery  play  from  the  date  of  separation  from  the  church  service 
until  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  transformed  the  mystery  into  the 
morality,  the  chronicle  history,  and  the  comedy. 


i  See  p.  149. 
Trans.  Conn.  Acad.,  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892. 

11 


154  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

A.  The  introduction  consists  of  six  stanzas  by  'Pilatns'  in  the 
late  style.1  The  verses  of  the  first  stanzaic  section  might  easily  be 
read  with  five  or  six  stresses.3  The  rime  is  very  striking,  a  a  a  a 
b  c  c  c  b. 

This  same  stanza,  with  more  or  less  irregularity  of  structure,  is 
found  in  nine  plays  :  'Processus  Noe;'  'Prima  Pastorum;'  'Secunda 
Pastorum;'  'Magnus  Herodes;'  'Conspiracio  et  Captio,'  first  six 
stanzas;  '  Colaphizacio  ;'  '  Flagellacio,'  from  'Primus  Tortor'  to 
'Johannes  Apostolus  ;'  'Processus  Talentorum,'  perhaps,  though  the 
confusion  is  extreme;  the  devil  play  in  ' Juditium,'  which  is  the 
development  of  a  minor  motive  in  the  York  'The  Judgment  Day.' 
!  These  plays  are  notable  in  that  they  contain  the  first  attempts  in 
English  literature  at  the  construction  of  a  comedy  of  manners.  In 
other  mystery  plays  we  find  shrewd  references  to  existing  customs, 
comic  episodes  for  the  diversion  of  the  audience  ;  thus  in  Ch, '  Mulier' 
in  'The  Harrowing  of  Hell,'  Joseph's  part  in  'The  Weavers'  Pageant,' 
and  elsewhere,  but  here  only  does  the  comedy  seek  its  own  ends  with 
dramatic  movement. 

'There  is  an  evident  attempt  at  faithful  presentation  of  the  life  of 
the  day.  The  detail  of  the  meal  in  '  Prima  Pastorum; '  the  farce,  the 
complaints  about  landlords  and  taxation,  against  the  weather,  the 
remarks  about  the  burden  of  many  children  in  poor  families,  the 
fondness  for  proverbs,  and  the  comments  upon  wedlock  —  all  of 
which  occur  in  'Secunda  Pastorum' — mark  this  writer  as  the  herald 
of  a  new  era,  the  pioneer  of  an  advance  in  English  literature. 
I  The  later  satire  of  manners  is  fitly  introduced  by  him.  Tutivillus 
in  '  Juditium'  is  a  precursor  of  the  Vice,  far  more  trenchant  and  dra- 
matic than  many  a  later  Vice,  whose  remarks  lay  bare  the  follies, 
extortion,  and  oppression  of  the  day.  How  far  this  writer  had 
advanced  beyond  his  fellows  in  dramatic  power  is  revealed  by  a 
comparison  of  Joseph's  attempts  at  home  thrusts  in  'The  Weavers' 
Pageant'3  with  the  action  in  '  Processus  Noe '  and  the  'Secunda  Pas- 
torum.' In  the  first  the  phrasing  is  awkward,  retards  the  action  in 
many  cases;  in  the  second  the  thought  comes  sharp,  quick,  and  the 
action  knows  no  halt. 

This  author  neglects  no  opportunity  of  exposing  the  iniquities  of 
his  day  ;  even  in  the  sis  introductory  stanzas  of  the  '  Conspiracio  et 
Captio,'  Pilate  represents  a  later  generation  of  politician  : 


i  See  p.  123.  2  Schipper,  vol.  1 ,  p.  391. 

3  The  Presentation  in  the  Temple:  A  Pageant  as  originally  represented  05-  the  Corpo- 
ration of  the  Weavers  of  Coventry  :  Edinburgh,  Printed  by  the  Abbotsford  Club. 


Charles  Davidion  —  English  Mystery  Phi ys.  155 

For  I  am  he  that  may  make  or  mar  a  man, 
My  8elf  if  I  it  say  as  men  of  cowrte  now  say ; 
Supporte  a  man  to-day,  to-morne  agans  him  than, 
On  both  parties  thus  I  play  and  IVnys  me  to  ordan 

The  right; 
Bot  alle  t'als  indytars, 
Quest  mangers  ami  jurers, 
And  alle  thise  t'als  out  ryders, 
Ar  welcom  to  my  sigigt. 

The  coarseness  of  the  early  English  comedy,  of  Gammar  Gurton's 
Needle,  is  here,  but  it  is  probably  no  coarser  than  the  life  it  depicts. 
The  shepherd  folk,  the  Mak  of  the  hovel,  the  peasant  and  his  wife, 
were  prone  to  call  a  spade  a  spade.  The  fun  is  old  English  fun, 
rude,  coarse,  outspoken,  and  fond  of  hard  knocks,  but  not  lascivious. 

But  where  in  the  history  of  these  cycles  does  this  author  stand  ? 
The  stanza  is  late.  In  '  Conspiracio  et  Captio'  his  work  is  an  intro- 
duction; in  '  Flagellacio '  it  is  the  play  to  which  a  foreign  introduction 
has  been  prefixed.  I  judge  him  a  late  contributor  to  a  cycle  already 
long  established.  His  plays  seem  to  me  a  direct  contribution  to  the 
cycle,  rather  than  plays  elsewhere  popular  which  finally  gained  a 
position  in  the  cycle,  because  his  work  in  '  Conspiracio  et  Captio'  is  of 
the  nature  of  a  new  introduction  to  a  play  with  which  he  was  con- 
versant. His  other  plays,  especially  those  of  the  shepherds,  super- 
seded the  plays  of  the  original  compilation] 

Possibly  one  significant  agreement  may  point  to  his  church  affilia- 
tions, since  it  seems  to  prove  an  acquaintance  with  one  set  of  church 
plays  rather  than  another  : — ' 

Noah's  answer  to  Deus,  "  What  art  thou,"  W. 

Noah's  answer  to  Angel,  "  What  art  thou,"  Newcastle. 

Noah's  answer  to  Deus,  "  A  !  Lorde,  I  lowe  >e  lowde  and  stille,"  Y. 

Noah's  answer  to  God,  "O,  Lorde,  I  thanke  thee  lowde  and  stille," 
Ch. 

Tt  is  not  impossible  that  light  might  be  shed  upon  the  literary  in- 
terpendence  of  the  churches  by  an  exhaustive  study  of  such  passages. 

I!.  The  passage  from  "Cayphas"  to  "Tunc  dicet  Sanctus  Johan- 
nes" is  the  fragment  of  the  parent  cycle  whose  characteristics  we 
have  already  discussed.2 

( '.  This  passage  extends  from  "  Tunc  dicet  Sanctus  Johannes  "  to 
the  words — '"Now  wote  ye  what  I  have  done,"  in  Jesus'  speech. 
This  is  introductory  to  the  final  instructions  of  Jesus  to  his  disciples. 
It  is  written  in  couplets,  which,  towards  the  last,  approach  the  suc- 
ceeding extract  in  the  literalness  of  its  rendering  of  the  Biblical  nar- 


See  p.  132.  «  See  p.  143. 


156  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

ration.  Such  passages,  as  we  have  already  shown,1  are  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  hand  of  the  compiler  himself. 

D.  The  passage,  beginning — "  Now  wote  ye  what  I  have  done," 
and  closing  with  the  introduction  of  Pilate,  is  of  a  different  char- 
acter. With  the  exception  of  the  part  assigned  to  '  Trinitas,' 
it  is  almost  an  exact  translation  of  the  Biblical  narrative,  though 
usually  taken  in  sequence.    If  we  begin  for  example,  at  the  words — 

In  my  fader  bouse,  for  sothe. 
Is  many  a  wonnyng-  stede, 

the  author  paraphrases  very  literally  the  following  passages, — John 
XIV,  2,  3,  6,  18,  19,  20,  28,  29,  30,  31,  Mark  XIV,  33,  38,  34,  Luke 
XXII,  42,  Mark  XIV,  37,  etc.  The  selection  seems  to  be  made  with 
reference  to  dramatic  quality,  when  possible  ;  thus,  he  chooses  from 
Mark,  "  Simon,  dormis?"  in  preference  to  Luke's,  "Et  ait  illis  :  Quid 
dormitis  ?  " 

The  stanza  is  the  quatrain.  One  may  venture  to  say  that  the 
verses  were  originally  alternate  4's  and  3's,  i.  e.  septenar  couplets 
with  riming  caesuras,  but  the  alterations  have  been  such  that  we 
cannot  pronounce  upon  the  verse  with  certainty. 
/  E.  The  passage,  beginning  with  'Pilatus'  and  closing  with  the 
introduction  of  '  Malcus  Miles,'  shows  signs  of  connection  with  the 
York  plays  upon  the  same  subject,  or  was  modeled  upon  work  of 
that  school. 

W  begins— Peas  I  comaunde  you,  carles  unkynde, 
To  stand  as  stylle  as  any  stone. 
In  donyon  depe  he  shalbe  pynde, 
That  will  not  sesse  his  tong-  anone. 
In  Y  XIX  Herod  exclaims— 

Stente  of  youre  steuenes  stoute, 
And  stille  as  stone  ge  stande. 
In  Y  XXXII  Pilatus  commands— 

And  loke  J>at  ye  stirre  with  no  striffe  but  stand  stone  still. 

These  may  be  stock  expressions,  but  the  use  of  them  would  argue 
some  community  of  interest  between  the  authors. 

F.  Beginning  with  'Malcus  Miles,'  four  stanzas  are  inserted  into 
the  play,  whose  structure  we  recognize  as  that  of  the  so-called  Cov- 
entry plays  :  aba  b  a  bcdd  d  c.  It  would  seem  that  this  passage 
and  that  marked  E  must  be  late  interpolations,  for  the  words  of 
Jesus  — 

"  Ryse  up,  Peter,  and  go  with  me,"  should  follow  the  last  speech  of 
Jesus,  i.  e.  the  close  of  passage  D,  without  break. 


i  See  p.  139. 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays.  \r>1 

There  are,  then,  in  this  cento  seven  distinct  passages,  the  work  of 
six  different  authors.  Indeed,  I  suspect  that  single  sentences,  which 
were  favorite  expressions  of  the  day,  are  imbedded  in  O,  but  am  not 
sufficiently  conversant  with  the  literature  of  the  day  to  locate  them. 

We  will  now  consider  another  play  which  exhibits  marked  cor- 
respondences in  all  the  cycles. 


XXIV. 
THE   PLAY   OF   THE   ANNUNCIATION. 

Y.  The  Annunciation,  and  Visit  of  Elizabeth  to  Mary. 

W.  Annunciacio. 

W.  Salutacio  Elizabeth. 

Ch.  The  Salutation  and  Nativity. 

Co.  The  Salutation  and  Conception. 

Co.  The  Visit  to  Elizabeth. 

S  &  T.  The  Pageant  of  the  Shearmen  and  Taylors  of  Coventry. 


The  Prologue  of  Y  is  in  the  stanza  of  the  parent  cycle.     We  will 
make  that  the  basis  of  the  comparison  of  Prologue  : 

Y,  2.    Howe  man  was  made  with-outen  mysse. 
W,  2.    And  Adam  with  my  handes  hath  wrought. 
Y,  3.    And  sette  whare  he  sulde  euer  haue  bene. 
W,  .">.    To  won  ther  in,  as  that  I  weynd. 
Y,  6.    And  was  putte  oute  fro  paradys. 
W,  7.    Then  I  hyme  put  out  of  that  place, 
Y,  7.    And  sithen  what  sorouse  sor  warre  sene 
Sente  vn-to  hym  and  to  al  his. 
W,  11.    For  he  has  bought  his  syn  fulle  sore. 
Y,  9.    And  howe  they  lay  lange  space 
In  helle  lokyn  fro  lyght. 
W,  13.    Thise  v  thousand  yeris  and  more, 
Fyrst  in  erth,  and  sythen  in  helle. 
Y,  11.    Tille  god  graunted  bam  grace 
Of  helpe,  als  he  hadde  hyght. 
W,  14.    Bot  long  therin  shalle  he  not  dwelle, 
Outt  of  payn  he  shalle  be  boght, 
I  wylle  not  tyne  that  I  have  wroght. 
W,  15-42.    Will  send  his  Son. 

Y,  17-132.    The  statements  of  the  prophets,  in  Latin  with  English  exposition. 
W,  43-50.     As  his  prophets  have  said. 
Y,  134-144.    Luke  says  that  God  sent  Gabriel. 
W,  51-74.     Deus  commands  Gabriel  to  go. 


Co.    Prologue  by  Contemplacio.    Parallel  passages  are- 
To  Y,  9.    Ffowi-e  thousand  six  undryd  four  yere  I  telle 
Man  ffor  his  off  ens  and  ffowle  foly, 
Hath  loyn  geres  in  the  peynes  of  helle, 


158 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


To  Y,  11.    Good  Lord,  have  on  maa  pyte, 

Have  mende  of  the  prayour  said  by  Ysaie. 
The  Virtues  plead  and  the  Son  resolves  to  go. 
Deus  commands  Gabriel  to  go. 
S  &  T.    Prologue  by  Isayc— A  general  prologue. 
Ch.    Has  no  pi-ologue. 

The  sequence  of  thought  between  W  and  Y  is  too  marked  for 
accident.  The  passage  in  W  is  in  couplets.  I  think  that  Ave  must 
conclude  that  the  compiler  of  W  was  dissatisfied  with  the  long  non- 
dramatic  prologue  of  Y,  re-wrote  the  first  stanza,  following  closely 
the  sequence  of  thought,  and  added  what  he  considered  more  appro- 
priate matter.  The  use  made  by  Y  of  Latin  passages  with  English 
exposition,  as  in  his  'Harrowing  of  Hell,'  was  in  accordance  with 
the  traditions  of  church  plays. 

No  sign  of  any  knowledge  of  the  York  Prologue  is  shown  by  the 
writers  of  the  other  plays. 

Vv^e  proceed  to  examine  the  play  itself,  and  here  we  add  the 
correspondent  passages  from  the  Bible. 

Y,  145,  Ang.    Hayle !  Marie !  full  of  grace  and  blysse, 

Oure  lord  god  is  with  J>e, 

And  has  chosen  be  for  his, 

Of  all  women  blist  mot  bou  be. 
S  T.    Gaberell.    Hayle  mare  full  of  grace  owre  lord  god  ys  with  the 

Aboue  all  wenien  bat  evur  wasse 

Lade  blesside  mote  thou  be. 
Ch.    Gabriell.    Heale  be  thou,  Marye,  mother  ff  ree, 

Full  of  grace,  God  is  with  thee, 

Amonge  all  wemen  blessed  thou  be, 

And  the  frute  of  thy  bodye. 
W.    Gabrielle.    Haylle  Mary,  gracyouse, 

Haylle  madyn  and  Godes  spouse. 

Of  alle  vyrgyns  thou  art  qwene. 

3  lines. 
My  lord  of  heven  is  wyth  the. 
Co.    Gabriel.    Heyl,  fful  of  grace,  God  is  with  the. 
Amonge  alle  women  blyssyd  art  thu. 

Ave,  gratia  plena :  Dominus  tecum :  Benedicte  tu  in  mulieribus,  et 
benedictus  fructus  ventris  tui. 


Luke  1,  28. 

42. 

Y  149-52. 

S&T. 

Ch. 

W.    Marie. 

Co. 

Luke  1,  29. 

Y153. 

S&T. 

Co. 

W. 

Ch. 

Luke  1,  30. 


Mary  expresses  surprise. 

Mary  expresses  amazement  and  trouble. 

Mary  expresses  amazement  and  trouble. 

What  is  thi  name  ? 

Mary  marvels  at  the  greeting. 

Quas  cum  audisset,  turbata  est  in  sermone  ejus,  et  cogitabat  quali 

esset  ista  salutatio. 
Ne  drede  be  nought,  bou  mylde  marie. 
Dred  the  nothyng  meydin  of  this. 
Mary,  in  this  take  ye  no  drede. 
Goodly  lady,  have  thou  no  drede. 
Marye,  ney  dreed  thee  naughte  this  casse. 
Ne  timeas,  Maria. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 


159 


Luke  L,  30. 
Y  158  9. 


S  &  T. 
Ch. 


For  bou  lias  tun  soueranly 
At  god  a  grace  ouer  othir  all. 

:;  lines. 
Salutyng  tin''  here  asse  mosl  exselenl 
Whose  virtue  aboue  all  othur  clothe  abownde. 
Ffor  at  God  grace  ffownde  have  5  e. 
For  thou  has  fonden  alio  thyn  oone, 
The  grace  of  God. 

W'iih  greate  God  founde  il haste 

Amonge  all  wemen  especial]  grace. 
Invenisti  enini  gratiam  :  1 1  n j < i  Deum. 
In  chastite  of  thy  bodye 
Consayue  and  bere  a  ehilde  bou  sail. 
For  thou  shalt  consey  ve  apon  bis  grownd. 
Therefore,  marye,  thou  mone 
Conseave  and  beare,  I  tell  thee, 
A  child. 
W.    Thou  shalle  conceyve  within  thy  sydys 

A  chyld  of  myght. 
Co.    Ye  xall  conceyve  in  your  wombe  indede 
A  child. 
Luke  1,  31.    Ecce  concipies  in  utero,  et  paries  fllium. 
Y,  160. 
S  &  T. 
Ch. 
W. 
Co. 
Luke  1,  31. 
Y,  101. 
S  &  r. 

Ch. 

W. 

Co. 

Luke  1,  32. 


Y.  162. 

s  &  T. 

Ch. 

W. 

Co. 

Luke  1,  33. 

Y,  163-4. 

S  &  '1'. 
Ch. 
W. 


Co. 

Luke  1.  32. 

Y,  165-6. 

S&T. 
Ch. 


His  name  Jesu  sail  bou  calle. 

His  name  Jesus  shall"'. 

Calle  hym  Jesum. 

His  name  of  you  Jhesu  clepyd  xall  be, 

Et  vocabis  nomen  ejus  Jesum, 

Mekill  of  myght  ban  sail  he  bee. 

So  greate  shalbe  never  non  as  he. 

Myghtfulle  man  shalle  he  be  that . 

He  xall  be  grett. 

Hie  erit  magnus. 

He  sail  be  God  and  called  God  sonne. 


And  called  Godes  sonne. 

And  Godes  son  shalle  he  hat. 

The  son  of  the  hyest  clepyd  of  kende. 

Et  Filius  Altissimi  vocabitur. 

Dauid  sege,  his  fadir  free, 

Sail  God  hym  giffe  to  sy  tte  vppon. 

Shall  geve  hym  David  his  fathers  see. 

My  Lord,  also  shalle  gyf  hym  tylle, 

Hys  fader  sete  David,  at  wylle, 

Therein  to  sytte. 

And  of  his  ffadyr,  Davyd,  the  Lord  xall  geve  hym  the  se. 

Et  dabit  illi  Dominus  Deussedem  David  patris  ejus. 

Als  kyng  for  euer  regne  sail  hee. 

In  Jacob  house  ay  for  to  wonne. 


Co. 
Luke  1,  32. 


In  Jacobes  house  raigne  shall  he, 

With  full  mighte  ever  more. 

He  simile  be  kyng  in  Jacob  kyn, 

His  kyngdom  shalle  ne\  er  blvn. 

Reynyng  in  the  hous  of  Jacob,  of  whiehc  regne  xal  be  nun  ende. 

Et  regnabit  in  domo  Jacob  in  Beternum. 


1G0  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Y,  167-8.    Of  his  kyngdome  and  dignite 

Shall  noo  man  erthly  knaw  ne  con. 

S&T 

Ch.    That  suche  renowne  and  royalltye 
Hade  never  non  before. 

W  &  Co 

Luke  1,  33.    Et  regni  ejus  non  erit  finis. 

Y,  170, 173.    How  sulde  it  be 

I  knawe  no  man 

S&T.    I  marvell  soore  how  thatt  mabe. 
Mans  cumpany  knev  I  nevur  yett. 

Ch.    How  maye  thisbe? 

In  synne  knewe  I  no  worldlye  wighte. 
W.    How  shuld  it  be? 

I  cam  never  by  man's  syde, 
Co.    In  what  manere  of  wyse  xal  this  be  ? 
Ffor  knowyng  of  man  I  have  non  now. 
Luke  1,  31.    Quomodo  flet  istud  quoniam  virum  non  cognosco? 
Y,  177-8.    Ang.    The  Halygast  in  be  sail  lighte, 
Hegh  vertue  sail  to  be  holde, 
S&T.    The  wholle  gost  in  the  schall  lyght 
And  schado  thy  soil  soo  with  vertuo, 
Ch.    The  Holye  Ghoste  shall  in  thee  lighte 
From  God  in  magistie, 
And  shadowe  thee  seeml3-e  in  sight ; 
The  Holy  Gost  shalle  light  in  the. 

And  his  vertue, 
He  shall  umshade,  and  fulfylle. 
Co.    The  Holy  Gost  xal  come  fro  above  to  the. 

And  the  vertu  of  hym  hyest  xal  schadu  the  so. 
Luke  1,  35.    Spiritus  sanctus  superveniet  in  te,  et  virtus  altissimi  obumbrabit  tibi. 
Y.  175-80.    The  holy  birthe  of  the  so  bright, 
God  sonne  he  sail  be  calde. 
S&T.    This  chylde  that  of  the  schalbe  borne 
Ys  the  second  persone  in  trenete. 
Ch.    Theirfore  that  holye,  as  I  have  teighte. 

That  thou  shalte  beare,  through  Godes  mighte, 
His  sonne  shall  called  be. 
W.    The  child  that  thou  shalle  bere,  madame, 

Shalle  Godes  son  be  callid  by  name. 
Co.    Therefore  that  Holy  Gost  of  the  xal  be  bore, 
He  xal  be  clepyd  the  son  of  God  says. 
Luke  1,  35.    Ideoque  et  quod  nascetur  ex  te  Sanctum,  voeabitur  Filius  Dei. 
Y,  181-2.    Loo  Elyzabeth,  bi  cosyne,  ne  myght 
In  elde  consayue  a  childe  for  aide. 
S  &  T.    Be  holde  Eylesabeth  thy  cosyn  clene 
The  wych  wasse  barren  &  past  all  aare. 
Ch.    Elizabeth,  that  barren  was. 

As  thou  maie  se,  conseaveid  has 
In  age  a  sonne  through  Godes  grace. 
\V.    Elisabeth,  thi  cosyn,  that  is  cald  geld, 

She  has  conceyffed  a  son  in  elde. 
Co.    And  so  Elyzabeth  your  cosyn  thore. 
She  hath  conseyvid  a  son  in  byre  age. 
Luke  1,  36.    Et  ecce  Elizabeth  cognata  tua  et  ipsa  concepit  Qlium  in  senectute  sua. 
Y,  183-4.    This  is  the  sexte  moneth  full  ryght, 
To  hir  that  baran  has  ben  talde. 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays. 


Luke  1,  30. 

Y. 

s  &  T. 

Ch. 

W. 


Co. 

Luke  1,  37. 

Y,  189-98. 

S&T. 

Ch. 

W. 

Co. 

Luke  1,  38. 
Y.    Scene  II. 


S  &  T.    And  now  with  ctayld  sche  hath  bene 

s>  \  monethis  and  more  asse  schalbe  sene. 

Ch.    The  seixte  month  is  gone  nowe  againe 
Seith  men  called  her  barene. 

\V.     And  this  is.  who  wylle  late, 

These.xt  monetbe  of  her  conceytate, 
Thai  geld  is  cald. 

Co.     This  is  1  he  scxi-e  monyth  of  hero  passage, 
I  u  here  thai  clepyd  was  bareyn. 
El  hie  mensis  sextus  est  illi,  quae  vocatur  sterlli 


Luke  1,  42. 
V.  309  212. 


For  to  god  onpossibull  nothyng  mabe. 

But  nothinge  to  Godes  mighte  and  mayne 

Impossible  ys. 

No  word,  lady,  that  I  the  bryng, 

Is  unmyghtfulle  to  heven  hyng, 

Bui  alle  shalle  hald. 

Nothynge  is  impossyble  to  Goddys  usage. 

Quia  non  erit  impossibile  apud  Deum  omne  verbum. 

Goddis  handmayden,  lo !  me  here. 

To  his  will  all  redy  grayd, 

Be  done  to  me  of  all  manere. 

II ys  hy  pleysuris  forto  full  fyll 

Asse  his  one  hand  mayde  I  submyt  me. 

Loe  !  Godes  cossen  meklye  here, 

Leve  thatyt  falle  in  such  manere. 

I  am  his  madyn  at  his  hand 

Be  done  to  me  in  alle  thyng. 

Se  here  the  hand-mayden  of  our  Lorde, 

A  Etyr  tlii  worde  be  it  don  to  me. 

Ecce  ancilla  Domini,  fiat  mihi  secundum  verbum  tuum.     " 

Mary  visits  Elizabeth  and  salutes  her.    Luke  1,  40. 

Joseph's  trouble  about  Mary:  then  the  coming  of  the  shepherds. 

The  visit  is  omitted. 
Mary  visits  Elizabeth.— Elizabeth,  nice  God  thee  see! 
Joseph's  trouble  about  Mary.    Next  play  '  Salutacio  Elizabeth.' 
Play  xii.    'Joseph's  Return;'  then,  play  xiii,  '  Visit  to  Elizabeth.' 
Blissid  befrou  anely 
Of  all  women  in  feere, 
And  be  frute  of  thy  body 
Be  blissid  feere  and  nere. 
Marye,  blessed  moste  thou  be, 
And  the  frute  thai  comes  of  thee 
Amonge  wemen  alle. 

Introductory  conversation  of  thirty  lines;  then— 
Blyssed  be  thou  of  alle  women. 
And  the  fruyte  that  I  welle  ken, 
Within  the  wombe  of  the. 
A  long  introduction  ;  then— 
Blj  ssd  be  thou  amonge  alle  women. 
And  blyssed  be  the  frute  of  thi  womb  also. 
Benedicta  tu  inter  mulieres,  el  benedictus  fructus  ventris  tui. 
pisisioyfuli  tydyng 
hat  I  may  nowe  here  see, 
he  modyr  of  my  lord  kyng, 
pus-gate  come  to  me. 


162  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Ch.    Wonderlye  nowe  marvailes  me, 
That  Marye,  Godes  mother  freye, 
Greetes  me  this  of  symple  degreey. 
W.    And  this  tyme  may  I  blys, 
That  my  lordes  moder  is 
Comon  thus  unto  me. 
Co.    How  is  it  that  the  modyr  of  God  me  xulde  come  to? 
Luke  1,  43.    Et  unde  hoc  mihi  ut  veniat  mater  Domini  mei  ad  me? 
Y,  213-16.    Sone  als  be  voyce  of  bine  baylsing 
Moght  myn  neres  entre  and  be, 
be  childe  in  my  wombe  so  yenge. 
Makes  grete  myrthe  vnto  be. 
Ch.    When  thou  me  greeteste,  sweete  Marye, 
The  childe  stored  in  my  bodye, 
For  greate  joye  of  thy  companye. 
W.    For  syn  that  tyme  f ulle  welle  I  wote, 
The  stevyn  of  angelle  voce  it  smote, 

And  rang  now  in  myne  ere ; 
A  selcouthe  thyng  is  me  betyde, 
The  chyld  makys  joy,  as  any  byrd, 
That  I  in  body  bere. 

Co 

Luke  1,  44.    Ecce  enim  ut  facta  est  vox  salutationis  tuge  in  auribus  meis,  exultavit 

in  gaudio  infans  in  utero  meo. 
Y,  217-240.    A  free  rendering  of  the  'Magnificat,'  broken  by  a  stanza  by  Elizabeth. 
Ch.    Luke  1,  46  and  47  quoted  with  slight  changes,  amplified  in  English,  and 

followed  by  a  paraphrase  of  the  remainder  of  the  '  Magnificat.' 
Co.    Mary  gives  the  Magnificat,  sentence  by  sentence,  and  Elizabeth  trans- 
lates each  sentence. 

The  above  comparisons  lead  naturally  to  four  conclusions  : — 

First.  All  lists  of  agi-eeing  passages,  where  the  agreement  arises 
from  the  literal  translation  of  dramatic  passages  of  the  Biblical  nar- 
rative, are  misleading  when  used  to  support  a  theory  of  direct  inter- 
dependence among  the  extant  plays. 

Secondly.  The  earliest  church  plays  gave  with  literal  fidelity 
the  Biblical  narrative  when  it  was  phrased  in  conversation,  i.  e.  was 
adapted  to  dramatic  presentation.  Later  redactors  were  reluctant 
to  change  passages  that  were  already  dramatic,  and  yet  adhered 
closely  to  the  sacred  story  ;  hence  the  unchanged  play  spread 
through  the  churches.  The  writers  of  cycles  were  conversant  with 
the  plays,  each  with  those  of  his  church,  and  adopted  such  passages 
with  but  few  changes,  since  the  movement  was  dramatic,  and  the 
language  faithful  to  the  sacred  text ;  hence  a  striking  similarity 
arose  where  sometimes  no  connection  existed. 

Thirdly.  Until  as  thorough-going  an  agreement  is  shown  between 
the  church  plays  of  France  and  those  of  England  as  is  here  shown 
among  the  plays  of  different  cycles,  we  must  claim  the  Chester  play 
as  a  product  of  England.  Here  lies  another  strong  proof  that  the 
Chester  plays  were  written  on  English  soil. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  l » » :* 

Fourthly.  It  would  seem  thai  the  play  in  question  must  have 
been  originally  the  work  of  one  author,  that  this  author  wrote  it  in 
Latin  for  a  church  play,  and  that  this  play  was  adopted  for  some 
reason  in  many  churches.  I  should  place  its  composition  at  an 
earlier  date  than  that  of  the  cyclic  plays,  for  the  writer  of  the  York 
parent  cycle  incorporated  it  in  his  cycle,  writing  for  it  a  prologue  of 
his  own. 

I  believe  that  the  writer  of  the  W  play,  not  the  compiler  of  the 
W  cycle,  had  this  York  play  before  him,  since  he  recast  a  part  of 
the  prologue  ;  but  he  departed  further  from  the  Biblical  text  than 
any  other  writer,  exhibiting  such  independence  as  the  compiler  of 
W  nowhere  shows.  The  Ch  and  Co  plays  were  probably  taken 
directly  from  the  play  in  the  church  best  known  to  the  author. 
The  stanzaic  structure  agrees  sufficiently  well  in  each  cycle  with 
the  author's  known  style  to  render  it  probable  that  the  play  was 
translated  independently  in  each  case.  The  Shearmen  and  Taylors' 
play  may  be  a  church  play,  or  may  be  in  part  the  York  play,  as  is 
certainly  the  other  extant  Coventry  play. 

Finally.  A  word  here  about  the  redactor  of  the  true  Coventry 
plays  may  be  in  place.  Robart  Croo  considered  that  he  had  accom- 
plished a  laudable  undertaking  when  he  had  modernized  the  Cov- 
entry plays.  His  execrable  spelling,  pointless  interpolations,  and 
attempts  at  comic  writing,  especially  in  the  part  of  Joseph  in  the 
Weavers'  play,  mark  him  as  a  man  of  little  education  and  less  taste. 
He,  or  his  son,  appears  to  have  been  a  necessary  factotum  of  the 
mystery  play  business  in  Coventry.  One  sometimes  wonders  if  he 
were  not  a  manager  who,  for  a  consideration,  presented  the  plays 
for  one  or  more  gilds.  I  do  not  know  that  any  one  has  directed 
attention  to  his  name  in  the  gild  accounts  as  given  by  Sharp.  The 
items  are  as  follows — 

Smiths'  Pageant. 
1563 — It'  to  Robart  Croo  for  ij  leves  of  ore  play  boke  viij  d. 

Drapers'  Pageant. 
1557 — paid  to  Robart  Crowe  for  makyng  of  the  boke  for  the  pag- 

gen  xx  s. 
1560 — It'  payd  to  Robart  Croo  for  pleayng  God  iijs.  iiij  d. 
1560 — payd  to  Cro  for  mendyng  the  devells  cottes  xx  d. 
1562 — Itm  payde  Robert  Croo  for  a  hat  for  the  pharysye  x ij  d. 
]556 — payd  to  Crowe  for  makyng  of  iij  worldys  ij  s. 
[In  1560  the  sum  paid  him  was  ?>  s.  8  d.\ 
— payd  him  more  for  same  iijs.  viij  d. 

Sharp  states  that  Croo  was  employed  also  by  the  Cappers  and 
Shearmen's  Companies  in  a  similar  manner. 


164  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

XXV. 
CHRIST   WITH   THE   DOCTORS   IN   THE   TEMPLE.. 

This  play,  Y  XX,  is  a  play  of  the  parent  cycle.  It  is  also,  with 
variations,  the  '  Pagina  Doctorum'  of  the  Woodkirk  cycle,  the 
'  Weavers'  Pageant '  of  Coventry,  and  '  The  Purification '  of  the 
Chester  cycle.  Certain  relations  exist  also  between  it  and  the  Cov- 
entry play,  '  Christ  Disputing  in  the  Temple.'  As  this  is  the  only 
play  of  the  parent  cycle  that  has  found  its  way  into  four  gild  cycles, 
it  is  worthy  of  a  somewhat  minute  analysis. 

The  introduction. — In  W  of  Co  a  play  of  the  prophets  comes  first. 
It  is  unlike  the  play  of  any  other  cycle.  How  this  play  could  find 
place  as  an  introduction  to  '  Christ  in  the  Temple '  in  a  cycle  which 
contained  the  Salutation,  is  difficult  of  explanation.  There  is  every 
reason  for  believing  that  these  cycles  at  first  followed  strictly  the 
sequence  of  the  Biblical  narrative.  This  transference  of  the  play  of 
the  prophets  to  a  position  subsequent  to  that  of  the  Salutation  must 
be  a  late  innovation,  though  I  see  no  reason  for  attributing  it  to 
Robart  Croo,  who  has  enough  to  answer  for  without  it. 

The  episode  of  Simeon,  Anna,  and  the  Angels. — The  agreement 
among  the  plays  is  that  of  a  common  church  tradition  reinforced  by 
literary  convention.  This  episode,  together  with  that  of  Joseph  and 
Mary's  journey  to  the  temple,  bears  the  marks  of  the  later  literary 
fashion  in  most  of  the  plays.  I  cannot  say  that  it  does  in  the 
Chester  play,  but  in  the  York  '  Purification '  the  later  style  is  very 
evident,  and  many  traces  of  it  appear  in  W  of  Co,  and  Co. 

Joseph  and  Mary  homeward  bound. — Y  opens  with  this.  W  of- 
Co  agrees  throughout  the  scene.  Croo's  adaptation  places  them 
upon  a  '  for  pageant,'  yet  puts  words  into  Mary's  mouth  that  imply 
the  journey.  Ch  introduces  Mary  with  eight  verses  that  are  evi- 
dently patchwork.  Mary  says  that  she  wishes  the  child  had  not  left 
them,  but  advises  in  the  first  stanza  borrowed  from  the  York  play 
that  they  proceed  on  their  journey.  Her  later  appearance  in  the 
temple  is  wholly  unaccounted  for.  The  remainder  of  the  first  stanza 
in  Y  is  omitted  in  Ch. 

The  introduction  of  the  Doctors. — In  Y  and  W  of  Co  the  Doctors 
prepare  to  announce  the  law  to  all  comers.  In  Co  a  similar  subject 
receives  very  different  treatment.  In  W  the  talk  is  of  the  prophecies 
of  Christ. 


Charles  Davidson — English.  Mystery  Plays.  1G5 

Jesus's  salutation. — 

V.    Lordingis,  lowe  be  with  you  lentte, 
Ami  mirth ia  be  vn-to  this  mene. 
W  of  Co.    Lordis  moche  lowe  with  you  be  lent, 
And  pes  be  amonge  this  company, 
W.    Masters,  luf  be  with  you  lent, 
Ami  nicnsk  be  unto  this  meneye. 

The  salutation  and  the  attempt  of  the  Doctors  to  send  the  child 
away  are  not  found  in  Ch.  A  different  salutation  is  found  in  Co, 
and  also  an  attempt  to  scud  Jesus  away. 

Primus  Magister  and  Secundus  Magister  address  Jesus.  —  The 
speeches  agree  in  Y,  \\  ,  and  W  of  Co. 

Tertius  Magister  addresses  Jesus. — In  Y,  W,  and  Ch  he  invites 
Jesus  to  come  and  learn  ;  in  W  of  Co  he  asserts  that  the  child  is 
too  young,  but  his  speech  is  evidently  modeled  on  Y  in  phraseology, 
and  follows  a  cue  given  in  the  next  speech  of  Primus  Magister  in  Y. 

Jesus's  reply. — This  agrees  in  Y,  W,  and  W  of  Co,  is  expanded  in 
Ch,  with  some  slight  likeness  to  Co. 

The  Doctors  answer. — Y  gives  this  in  four  verses,  W  agrees,  W  of 
Co  gives  two  verses  to  Primus  Magister  and  two  to  Secundus  Mag- 
ister. Ch  gives  the  four  to  one  speaker,  and  adds  four  as  an  expan- 
sion of  the  statement  that  Jesus  is  too  young. 

Jesus's  reply. — This  agrees  in  Y  and  W,  is  slightly  expanded  in 
\V  of  Co,  omitted  in  Ch. 

Secundus  Magister  answers. — Agreement  in  Y  and  W  of  Co  ;  in 
W  he  speaks  the  first  two  verses  and  Tertius  Magister  the  remaining 
four.  (This  was  probably  the  original  plan.)  Ch  gives  Secundus 
Magister  four  lines  of  different  content. 

Jesus  declares  his  power — 

The  holy  ghost  has  on  me  light, 

in  four  verses.     Agreement  of  Y,  W,  W  of  Co,  Ch. 

Primus  Magister  answers. — This  agrees  in  Y  and  W,  is  paraphrased 
in  \V  of  Co,  is  expanded  from  two  to  four  verses  in  Ch. 

Jesus  declares — 

Certis,  T  was  or  ye, 
And  schall  be  aftir  you. 

In  Y,  W,  and  W  of  Co,  Primus  Magister  replies  in  a  long  speech. 
Jesus  states  that  he  will  declare  the  truth.  Primus  Magister  won- 
ders where  the  child  could  have  learned  such  wisdom.  In  the  above, 
Y,  \V  of  Co,  and  W  agree,  W  furnishing  in  some  points  the  better 
text.     Ch  departs  from  the  model,  transferring  from  a  later  position 


166  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

a  speech  of  Tertius  Mag.  and  of  Primus  Mag. — each  speech  of  four 
verses — in  favor  of  sending  Jesus  away. 

Secundus  Mag.,  in  W  of  Co  Tertius  Mag.,  expresses  the  hope  that 
Jesus  has  come  "  to  salf e  oure  sare."  Here  Ch  agrees  even  in  rime- 
series,  though  with  variation  of  wording. 

Jesus  offers  to  give  proof. — Tertius  Mag.,  Primus  Mag.  in  W  of 
Co,  asks  for  the  first  commandment.     This  is  omitted  in  Ch. 

Jesus  replies  that  they  have  their  books,  and  invites  them  to  read. 
Ch  depai'ts  slighly  from  the  model. 

Primus  Mag.,  Secundus  Mag.  in  W  of  Co,  answers — 

I  rede  this  is  the  firste  bidding. 

The  remaining  three  lines  agree  closely  in  language. 

Jesus  expounds  the  two  commandments  of  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man,  in  eighteen  verses  in  Y  and  W.  These  lines  W  of  Co  cuts 
down  to  four  verses. 

Primus  Mag.,  Tertius  Mag.  in  W  of  Co,  asks  him  for  the  remain- 
ing commandments.     This  interruption  is  omitted  in  Ch. 

Jesus  gives  the  commandments,  with  interesting  differences  among 
the  plays. — In  Ch  the  version  is  free  and  not  minute  ;  in  Y  literal 
with  omission  of  explanatory  phrases  ;  in  W  some  three  verses  are 
generally  added  to  the  Y  statement  ;  W  of  Co  stands  between  Y 
and  W,  but  nearer  to  W.  Second  Mag.  in  Y  and  W,  Tertius  in  Ch, 
Primus  in  W  of  Co,  declares  that  Jesus  speaks  the  truth.  Tertius 
Mag.,  and  Primus  Mag.  in  Y,  W,  and  W  of  Co,  are  in  favor  of  send- 
ing Jesus  away,  lest  he  should  rob  them  of  their  fame.  These 
speeches  have  been  transferred  in  Ch  to  an  earlier  position  in  the 
play.  This  is  a  proof  that  the  order  of  the  play  in  the  other  cycle 
is  older  than  that  of  Ch,  an  important  point. 

Mary  and  Joseph  lament  because  they  cannot  find  their  child.  — In 
this  Y,  W,  and  W  of  Co  agree,  but  Ch  omits  this  introduction  of 
their  return.  Mary  discovers  Jesus  sitting  among  the  Doctors.  In 
Y,  W,  and  W  of  Co  Joseph  expresses  thankfulness  ;  in  Ch  there  is 
no  interruption  of  Mary's  remarks.  Mary  requests  Joseph  to  go  to 
Jesus.  Here  the  Ch  rime-series  proves  the  derivation  of  the  play 
from  Y.  Joseph  dares  not  meddle  with  men  of  might  "in  furres 
fyne."     In  this  all  plays  agree. 

Mary  tells  Joseph  that  they  will  respect  his  age.  Joseph  responds 
that  he  does  not  know  how  to  address  them. 

Mary  offers  to  go  with   him. 

Joseph  wishes  Mary  to  go  first  — This  little  episode  is  omitted  in 
Ch,  but  appears  to  belong  to  the  original  play. 


Charles  Davidson— English  Mystery  Plays.  167 

Mary  addresses  Jesus. — Agreement  of  Y  and  W.  Immaterial 
changes  in  W  of  Co,  speech  reduced  to  four  verses  of  free  paraphrase 
in  Ch. 

Jesus  replies. — Agreement  among  W  of  Co,  Ch,  and  Y.  W  adds 
verses  after  the  manner  of  W  in  the  'Harrowing  of  Hell.' 

Joseph  addresses  Jesus  in  Y  and  W,  but  Mary  addresses  Jesus  in 
W  of  Co  and  Ch.     This  is  a  significant  difference. 

An  angel  closes  the  Ch  play.  In  Y  and  W  the  closing  agrees, 
although  W  has  preserved  the  proper  assignment  of  parts  to  the 
Doctors,  which  in  Y  have  all  been  given  to  one  speaker.  W  of  Co 
shows  Croo's  handiwork  in  a  tedious  closing. 

Such,  then,  is  the  play  of  '  Christ  with  the  Doctors  in  the  Temple.' 
A  few  inferences  can  be  drawn  from  these  facts  : — 

First.  The  play,  as  found  in  W  of  Co,  divides  into  three  parts  : 
the  Play  of  the  Prophets;  the  Play  of  Simeon,  Anna,  and  the  Coming 
to  the  Temple;  the  Play  of  Christ  among  the  Doctors.  With  the  last 
only  have  we  any  concern. 

Second^.  The  original  play  was  the  present  York  play,  the  slight 
errors  of  the  scribe  of  the  Register  being  eliminated. 

Thirdly.  The  compiler  of  W  took  the  Y  play,  but  not  from  the 
Register,  and  interpolated  or  expanded  according  to  his  known  cus- 
tom, but  with  fewer  changes  than  usual. 

Fourthly.  W  of  Co,  in  the  matter  of  the  commandments,  appears 
to  lean  upon  W  rather  than  upon  Y. 

Fifthly.  Ch,  because  of  the  transposition  of  the  two  speeches  of 
the  Doctors,  is  probably  later  than  the  other  plays,  and  because  of 
agreement  with  W  of  Co  in  Mary's  speech,  when  Joseph  speaks  in 
the  other  plays,  is  without  much  doubt  a  borrowing  from  Coventry 
before  the  days  of  Robart  Croo,  i.  e.  before  15 — .  This  dependence 
upon  W  of  Co  does  not,  however,  apply  to  the  whole  play  in  Ch. 
The  scene  of  Simeon  and  Anna  is  in  the  metre  of  the  cycle,  the 
scene  of  Christ  in  the  Temple  is  in  quatrains. 

Sixthly.  It  is  demonstrated,  then,  that  the  craft-gilds  of  Coventry 
were  conversant  with  the  gild  plays  of  the  North,  and  that  the  Ches- 
ter plays  form  also  a  composite  cycle,  as  truly  as  do  the  plays  of  W 
and  Y,  though  composite  to  a  less  extent. 

If  the  plays  of  the  remaining  craft  cycles,  those  of  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  Beverley,  Worcester,  and  others  if  there  were  others,  were  ex- 
tant, it  is  probable  that  many  other  points  of  agreement  could  be 
established.  These  plays  were  not  acted  in  a  corner.  The  Mercers 
of    Shrewsburv   fined   a   brother    that    absented  himself   from   their 


168  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

Corpus  Christi  procession  to  visit  the  play  at  Coventry.1  The 
people  flocked  to  these  plays  from  distances  that  were  then  consid- 
ered great.  Nothing  could  be  more  reasonable  than  that  the  players 
of  one  city  should  take  note  of  the  successful  plays  of  another,  and 
seek  to  incorporate  such  plays  into  the  home  cycle. 


XXVI. 

CORRESPONDENCE    OUTSIDE  OF   THE   PARENT   CYCLE. 

In  the  Woodkirk  plays  are  found  portions  of  three  York  plays  not 
included  in  the  parent  cycle.     These  York  plays  are — 

Y  XXXIV.     Christ  Led  up  to  Calvary. 
Y  XXXVIII.     The  Resurrection. 

Y  XLVIII.     The  Judgment  Day. 

The  York  play,  '  Christ  Led  up  to  Calvaiy,'  agrees  in  subject  with 
W  'Flagellacio,'  which  has  been  already  the  subject  of  our  discussion.2 
We  have  recognized  one  scene  of  the  tormentors  as  the  work  of  our 
earliest  comedy  writer,  to  whom  we  have  also  assigned  certain  other 
portions  of  the  W  cycle. 

The  second  scene  begins  with  '  Johannes  Apostolus,'  and  corre- 
sponds to  the  second  scene  of  the  York  play.  An  examination  of 
this  may  inform  us  as  to  the  genesis  of  the  play. 

Stanza  10.  W  impairs  verse  movement  by  introducing  'so,'  'we,' 
substitutes  '  Caiphas '  for  '  bushoppe,'  '  fled  '  for  '  went,'  '  fals  witnes  ' 
for  'soteltes,'  destroys  alliteration  four  times.  W  omits  stanza  11, 
gives  stanza  12.  A  leaf  is  lost  in  Y.  Portions  of  stanza  13,  and  of 
one  following  the  lost  leaf  and  numbered  by  Miss  Smith  14,  and 
stanza  15,  bring  the  Y  play  to  the  introduction  of  Jesus  bearing  the 
cross.  W  apparently  agrees  in  general  with  the  lost  Y,  but  intro- 
duces Mary's  attempt  to  take  the  cross,  and  departs  otherwise  from 
the  Y  stanzas  extant. 

W  may  paraphrase  Y  stanzas  16  and  17,  or  these  stanzas  may 
depend  directly  upon  the  Biblical  narrative  as  given  in  some  church 
play. 

Y  stanza  19  follows  in  W.  W  omits  Y  20  and  the  first  part  of 
Y  21.  In  Y  the  women  leave  in  stanza  21,  but  in  W  they  must 
have  left  in  Y  19,  thus  abridging  the  altercation  with  the  soldiers. 

i  Hibbert,  F.  A.    The  Influence  and  Development  of  English  Gilds,  p.  63. 
2  See  p.  155. 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  L69 

W  and  Y  agree  for  the  remainder  of  Y  21,  W  omits  two  speeches 
in  Y  '2-2,  agreeing  with  V  in  the  last  of  the  stanza.  \Y  contains  Y 
23  and  24,  omits  Y  25,  gives  26,  27.  28,  29,  and  closes. 

It  is  evident  that  the  York  play  is  the  older,  and  has  been  cut 
down  for  insertion  into  the  Woodkirk. 

The  Woodkirk  play  suffers  resolution  into — 

First.     An  introduction  of  Pilate,  in  four  stanzas. 

Secondly.  The  scene  of  the  tormentors,  which  was  written  by 
the  author  of  'Processus  Noe,'  'Prima  Pastorum,'  'SecundaPastorum,' 
'  Magnus  Herodes,'  Introduction  to  ' Conspiracio  et  Captio,'  and  'Pro- 
cessus Talentorum.' 

Thirdly.  The  remainder  of  the  play,  which  is  the  York  play, 
scene  second,  with  omissions  and  slight  alteration. 

We  will  next  consider  the  play,  '  The  Resurrection.' 
Y"  contains  five  stanzas  before  the  centurion  is  mentioned,  W  six. 
These  stanzas  are  in  the  same  metre  in  the  two  versions,  and,  so  far 
as  I  can  determine,  of  equal  age.  The  seventh  stanza  in  W  is  irreg- 
ular through  an  attempt  to  fuse  two  stanzas,  the  second  of  which  is 
Y  6  with  the  omission  of  two  verses.  This  would  argue  an  attempt 
to  piece  the  W  introduction  to  the  Y  play.  The  plays  agree  in 
stanzas  6  and  7.  York  then  omits  twenty-five  lines  of  the  original 
play,  which  W  gives.  These  contain  an  account  of  the  marvels  for 
which  the  line  in  Y — 

What  may  pes  meruayles  signifle? 

prepares.     Y  substitutes  stanza  8  for  this  passage. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  the  play  there  is  occasionally  the 
disj:>lacing  of  single  stanzas  ;  thus,  stanzas  22,  32,  44,  47,  63,  66,  67, 
and  69  of  the  York  play  do  not  appear  in  the  Woodkirk,  and  full 
stanzas  of  W,  after  Y  lines  114,  126,  186,  388,  are  different  from  the 
York,  though  following  the  thought  closely. 

The  most  noteworthy  insertion  is  that  of  the  monologue  of  Jesus, 
which  W  has  in  common  with  Chester. 

The  variations  between  these  plays  are  less  marked  than  we  have 

found  them  hitherto.      Both  writers   use   the  same   metre,  and   the 

variant  portions  are  so  welded  to  the  common  text  that  neither  Y 

nor  W^k  the  type  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other.      I  have  fancied 

that  the  variants  of  W  were  more  lyrical  than  those  of  Y,  but  cannot 

state  it  with  certainty. 

Trans.  Conn.  Acad..  Vol.  IX.  October,  1892. 

12 


170  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

It  would  seem  that  in  the  time  of  these  later  plays  the  poets  were 
conversant  with  a  considerable  body  of  devotional  poetry.  They 
wrote,  taking  excerpts  and  turns  of  expression  from  contemporaneous 
literature,  and  we  shall  find  it  difficult  to  estimate  the  independence 
of  any  single  author,  unless  we  saturate  our  minds  with  the  non- 
dramatic  poetry  of  their  day. 

The  discussion  of  Y  'The  Judgment  Day'  need  not  delay  us  long 
The  'Juditium'  is  the  corresponding  TV  play.  The  Y  play  is 
throughout  by  one  author.  The  W  play  displaces  the  first  eighteen 
stanzas  by  a  new  introduction,  all  of  which  is  lost  except  the  last 
stanza.  The  second  wicked  soul  follows  with  three  stanzas  agreeing 
in  W  and  Y.1  W  then  inserts  thirty-two  lines  which  are  spoken 
by  'Quartus  Mains,'  after  which  it  continues  with  Y  22. 

The  two  striking  features  of  the  play  are,  first,  the  non-dramatic 
character  of  the  second  scene,  which  might  very  easily  be  an  adap- 
tation of  a  devotional  monologue  of  Deus  or* Jesus,  such  as  abound 
in  the  devotional  poetry  of  the  day ;  and,  secondly,  the  introduction 
of  the  satirical  comedy  of  Tutivillus  in  W,  mention  of  which  has 
been  made  in  an  earlier  chapter. 

In  closing  this  discussion  of  the  affiliation  of  the  cycles,  it  may  be 
well  to  emphasize  the  relation  of  church  plays  to  certain  agreements 
that  exist  among  the  cyclic  plays,  since  Herttrich2  and  Hohlfeld'  have 
cited  such  coincidences  as  proof  of  interdependence  among  the  cycles. 
We  have  stated  above  the  reason  for  distinguishing  the  coincidences 
which  accompany  notable  actions  as  correspondences  due  to  familiar 
knowledge  of  the  plays  through  frequent  repetition  rather  than 
through  acquaintance  with  texts.  Such  sentences  do  not  argue  deri- 
vation from  a  common  text,  but  rather  dependence  upon  church 
plays  in  which  a  conventional  expression  accompanies  a  markworthy 
action. 

Such  expressions  abound  in  the  plays,  and  further  reference  to 
them  would  be  unnecessary,  were  it  not  for  the  prominence  that 
other  investigators  have  given  them.  Suffice  it  here,  that  I  consider 
of  this  character  Herttrich's  reference  to  Y  XVIII,  and  Hohlfeld's  to 
Y  XIII,  XVII,  and  XXXVI.  As  to  the  verses  culled  by  Hohlfeld 
from  Y  XLIII  and  W  XXIV,  they  are  so  literally  translated  from 
Mark  XVI,  17-18,  that  I  think  them  unsafe  data  for  any  argument 
of  direct  connection  between  the  plays  themselves. 

i  In  Y  XXXIV  the  third  soldier  is  named  Sir  Wymond.  In  the  Romance  of  Athelston 
the  earl  of  Dover  is  Sir  Wymond.  Cp.  Die  Romanze  von  Athelston  in  Englische  Studien, 
vol.  13,  p.  33:2. 

J  Herttrich,  p.  6.  s  Anglia,  vol.  11,  p.  254. 


Charles  Davidson  —  English  Mystery  Plays.  171 

XXVII. 
CONCLUSION. 

In  the  foregoing  pages  an  attempt  lias  been  made  to  explore  one 
of  the  sources  of  the  English  drama,  and  to  solve  some  of  the  prob- 
Lems  presented  to  us  in  the  mass  of  inchoate  dramatic  material  known 
as  the  English  Mystery  Plays. 

Literary  tives  know  no  national  boundaries  ;  therefore  it  is  not 

surprising  that  we  find  our  English  plays  in  close  connection  with 
the  French,  and  can  watch  in  the  Italian  and  German  the  action  of 
the  national  spirit  under  diverse  literary  influences  upon  a  common 
literary  material.  But  this  inheritance  came  from  the  mother  church. 
The  church  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  conservator  of  letters.  A 
spirit  of  devotion  produced  the  church  drama.  A  comprehension  of 
this  drama  within  the  church,  and  of  the  causes  that  gave  rise  to  it, 
can  be  gained  only  through  the  study  of  the  liturgy  and  of  its 
sources,  which,  in  turn,  leads  us  back  to  the  foundation  of  the 
church  itself. 

The  exploration  of  the  dramatized  Bible  story  necessitated,  there- 
fore, a  sketch  of  the  growth  of  dramatic  symbolism  in  the  early 
liturgy.  It  has  been  shown  in  outline  how  the  church  on  the  one 
hand  drew  into  its  service  dramatic  elements  from  the  Greek,  and,  on 
the  other,  sought  in  the  West  a  more  materialistic  phrasing  for  its 
thought.  When  these  materialistic  conceptions  found  final  issue  in 
transnbstantiation,  the  symbolic  drama  became  a  true  tragedy,  and 
the  cycle  of  the  liturgy  became  the  prototype  of  the  cyclic  play. 

Little  by  little  the  plays  that  clustered  about  the  two  most  touch- 
ing festivals  of  the  church,  the  Crucifixion  and  the  Birth  of  Christ, 
approached  each  other,  and  the  whole  antecedent  Bible  story,  to- 
gether with  the  doom  of  saint  and  sinner,  fell  naturally  into  place  as 
cause  and  consequence  of  these  two  central  movements  of  a  world 
drama. 

All  literary  activities  were  drawn  into  line  with  the  church,  or 
denounced  as  impious.  The  material  through  which  the  spirit  of 
the  day  could  best  and  most  safely  express  itself  was  the  church 
drama.  As  a  consequence,  the  religious  drama  that  arose  there- 
from represents  most  accurately  those  ill-defined  movements  of  the 
national  spirit  which  determine  a  literature  as  national. 

This  religious  drama  became  the  truest  exponent  of  the  folk-spirit 
when  it  had  passed  from  the  church  through  the  Puy  to  the  Confre- 


172  Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays. 

rie  in  France,  to  the  Meistersanger  in  Germany,  or  to  the  craft-gild 
in  England.  Its  fraternization  with  the  comedy  of  the  hedge-rows, 
last  scion  of  the  ancient  dramatic  stock,  produced  the  Feast  of  Fools 
and  the  Feast  of  the  Ass  in  France.  Tonched  with  the  spirit  of 
earnest  criticism  which  gives  to  England  her  power  of  self-renova- 
tion, it  became  in  its  last  clays  the  precursor  of  the  satirical  comedy 
in  politics  and  manners.  Its  unorganized  mass  has  been  a  quarry 
of  literary  material  for  later  authors,  and  motives  kindred  to  our 
thonght  are  still  found  within  its  content. 

In  France  the  plays  were  more  especially  the  exponent  of  the 
literati  and  of  the  nobility,  but  in  England  they  pulsed  with. the  life 
of  the  crafts.  Religious,  philanthropic,  and  economic  motives  lay  at 
the  basis  of  the  gild  life.  The  processions,  pageantry,  and  votive 
offerings,  through  which  the  gild  expressed  its  corporate  devotion, 
presented  faithfully  the  religious  spirit  of  the  artisan.  Through  an 
adaptation  of  pageantry,  its  customary  vehicle  of  homage,  the  civic 
body  did  honor  to  its  earthly  sovereign  in  the  Royal  Entry.  A  com- 
mon spirit  shaped  a  common  material  to  religious,  divertive  and 
political  ends,  in  procession,  pageantry,  and  play.  Therefore  pa- 
geantry and  processional  customs  bear  directly  upon  the  problems 
of  the  plays,  and  must  be  continually  kept  in  mind  as  ofttimes  con- 
ditioning the  form  of  the  play  itself. 

The  craft  plays  were  the  favorite,  literature  of  the  people  for  about 
two  centuries.  In  them  are  embedded  phases  of  thought  prevalent 
in  successive  generations  of  men.  Their  sympathy  with  life  fore- 
tokens the  drama  of  life,  the  Shakespeare  who  purifies  the  native 
drama  in  the  alembic  of  the  classic. 

Since  a  cycle,  as  that  of  York,  was  the  expression  of  the  mind  of 
generations,  it  might  be  expected  that  its  contents  would  change  as 
successive  standards  of  taste  or  opinion  prevailed.  As  each  play 
was  in  great  measure  the  peculiar  property  of  one  gild,  its  fortunes 
must  have  been  intimately  connected  with  those  of  the  gild.  A 
sumptuous  pageant  wagon  and  skilled  actors  fitly  represented  an 
opulent  gild.  A  fusion  of  plays  through  the  excision  of  scenes  ad- 
vertised the  joint  labors  of  weaker  crafts.  Thus  it  came  about  that 
a  cycle  contains  the  plays,  independent  or  revised,  of  many  writers 
of  different  periods  and  schools,  and  that  these  plays,  when  popular, 
passed  from  cycle  to  cycle,  or  influenced  powerfully  the  style  of 
new  plays. 

A  lack  of  appreciation  of  this  intimac}^  of  connection  between  play 
and  gild  life  and  fortune,  has  heretofore  prevented  an  earnest  inquiry 


Charles  Davidson — English  Mystery  Plays.  173 

as  to  the  possibly  composite  characters  of  the  cycles.  Such  inquiry 
as  has  been  made  failed  of  results,  because  the  key  to  the  metrical 
problem  was  sought  in  the  dialect,  and  not  in  the  metrical  forms. 
The  plays  as  we  have  them  are  seriously  modified  by  the  labor  of 
scribes.  These  scribes  could,  and  ofttimes  did,  change  the  dialect 
essentially;  the  metrical  structure  they  could  reduce  to  ruins,  but 
could  not  destroy  beyond  the  possibility  of  restoration.  If,  there- 
fore, the  individuality,  locality,  and  relative  date  of  stanzaic  struc- 
tures were  once  established,  a  sure  key  would  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  investigator,  through  which  he  could  read  the  secrets  of  the 
cycles.  ■ 

With  the  establishment  and  definition  of  the  Northern  septenar 
stanza  the  segregation  of  a  parent  York  cycle  becomes  possible,  and 
the  composite  character  of  single  plays  of  the  Woodkirk  cycle  is 
made  evident.  '  The  connections  among  the  four  cycles  now  reveal 
themselves,  and  the  commanding  position  of  the  York  plays  can  no 
longer  be  questioned. 

The  Mysteries  constitute  the  most  important  body  of  connected 
literature  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  They  contain 
the  work  of  many  authors,  writing  on  related  subjects  in  different 
styles  and  metres.  In  this  work  very  possibly  every  generation  for 
two  centuries  is  represented.  The  mass  of  material  is  sufficient,  and 
its  arrangement  through  the  labors  of  successive  authors  on  single 
plays  is  such,  that  the  Mystery  Plays  must  become  the  most  impor- 
tant source  of  literary  history  for  their  time,  and  the  determining 
factor  in  many  dialectal  questions. 

This  monograph  simply  opens  the  field  for  other  workers.  If  it 
has  demonstrated  the  significance  of  stanzaic  structure,  unlocked  the 
cycles,  justified  the  segregation  of  certain  plays  as  a  parent  cycle, 
proved  the  interdependence  of  the  four  craft-cycles  in  the  two  extant 
Coventry  plays,  established  characteristics  of  workmanship  and  the 
relative  dates  of  two  or  three  authors,  the  labor  of  a  year  will  not 
have  been  in  vain.  Such  a  result,  however,  raises  more  questions 
than  it  settles,  and  invites  other  explorers.  Some  first  steps  may 
have  been  taken,  but  final  results  must  be  the  work  of  many  scholars, 
and  embrace  the  whole  body  of  contemporaneous  literature.  Until 
some  approximate  statement  of  the  connections  between  this  litera- 
ture and  the  early  Elizabethan  has  been  made,  no  just  estimate  can 
be  formed  of  the  proportions  in  which  the  national  and  classical  ele- 
ments combined  to  produce  the  golden  age  of  English  literature. 


14  DAY  USE 

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